If you’re looking for a truly moist chocolate cake, this chocolate bundt cake delivers big time. Made with olive oil for extra tenderness and topped with a simple chocolate ganache, it’s pure chocolate comfort in every slice.
Find more olive oil cake recipes here.
If you have never baked with olive oil, boy have you been missing out! Olive oil cakes are moist, very easy to whip up and have incredible flavor and varieties. One of my most popular posts is my vanilla olive oil cake – I make it all the time for family birthdays!
Some more popular olive oil cake recipes my readers love include this marble loaf cake and my olive oil lemon loaf cake. Have I peaked your interest yet?!
Today I am sharing a little different kind of olive oil cake, a rich and moist chocolate cake. It really will soon become your go-to chocolate cake recipe!
Laura says :
Why this recipe works
- Easy: This moist chocolate cake comes together fast with simple pantry staples, no fancy techniques and no stress baking required.
- Super Flexible: One great batter, endless options. Use it to make a classic chocolate bundt cake, a two-layer cake, or a full batch of cupcakes.
- Perfect Texture: This cake is soft and fluffy with a tender crumb thanks to olive oil. Add the chocolate ganache drizzle and don’t be surprised if the plates get licked clean!
- Simple Swaps: Need it dairy-free or egg-free? A few easy substitutions and this becomes a moist and riche vegan chocolate cake!
Ingredients needed
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- Milk: I usually make this cake with low fat milk and it works great. You can use full fat milk or to make it vegan, use almond milk.
- Eggs: When I bake, I primarily use large eggs. You can swap out eggs and use flax meal to make this cake vegan.
- Extra virgin olive oil: If you’ve read my blog before, then you learned your lesson on how to bake with olive oil. Your baked goods are only as good as the ingredients you put into it. Choose a mild tasting olive oil for this cake recipe, not a peppery one. You can also use canola, avocado or any other neutral oil.
- Unsweetened cocoa powder: You can use regular or dark unsweetened cocoa powder. I have made this recipe with both.
- Instant coffee: A little bit of coffee brings out the chocolatey flavor. If you are worried about caffeine, you can use decaffeinated.
- Glaze ingredients: For the glaze, I used chocolate chips (dark or semi-sweet) and heavy whipping cream. I garnished the cake with fresh raspberries and dusted it with powdered sugar.
- Pantry staples: Granulated sugar, all purpose flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla extract.
Step by step directions
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- Whisk wet ingredients. Combine olive oil and sugar until it resembles wet sand. Add milk, eggs and vanilla extract and whisk until combined.
- Add dry ingredients. Add flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, coffee and salt then whisk until just combined.
- Bake the cake. Transfer the batter into a well greased bundt pan. Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
- Cool the cake. Let the cake cool completely on a wire rack before adding glaze.
- Make the glaze. Pour hot heavy cream over the chocolate chips. When chocolate gets melty, stir until smooth.
- Decorate the cake. Let the glaze cool a little then drizzle over the cake. Add raspberries and dust with powdered sugar, if you like.
Expert tips and recipe FAQs
As I mentioned before, this recipe will make a 2-layer 9 or 8-inch cake, a bundt cake or 24 cupcakes.
If you want to try more chocolate cake recipes, you must try my Chocolate Guinness Cake, Root Beer Cake or Raisin Black Forest Cake. All three of these cakes are chocolatey and heavenly!
I use olive oil in all kinds of baking recipes, from scones with olive oil and olive oil gingerbread cookies. My olive oil cookbook has a wonderful olive oil pie crust recipe. And I also have a chocolate olive oil pie crust recipe here on my blog, too.
Storing/Freezing Instructions
TO STORE: If your cake is glazed, I suggest storing any leftovers in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 5 days. If unfrosted, you can keep it covered on the counter for up to 3 days or refrigerate for longer.
TO FREEZE: You can also freeze leftovers. Wrap in foil, parchment paper or plastic wrap and freeze for up to 4 months.
Yes you can! Do not choose a peppery olive oil to bake an olive oil cake. Do not chose a cheap olive oil either, as it will taste awful. DO use a late harvest, mild flavored extra virgin olive oil. Do taste the oil by itself and remember this is the flavor that will be added to your cake.
ABSOLUTELY! I regularly bake with extra virgin olive oil instead of butter. I do this for bread, scones, cookies, muffins and yes, even cake. Baking with oil not only yields a moist muffin, scone or cake, but it can also add flavor, depending on the flavor of your olive oil.
A little bit of coffee in your chocolate baked goods actually enhances the flavor of the chocolate. You do not taste the coffee and you can use decaffeinated coffee.
Chocolate Bundt Cake with Olive Oil
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 cup milk
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cup all purpose flour
- 1 ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
- 1 teaspoon salt
Glaze Ingredients
- 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 4 oz heavy whipping cream
- 6 oz fresh raspberries
Instructions
Cake Directions
- Position an oven rack to the lower third of the oven and preheat it to 350ºF.
- In a large mixing bowl combine olive oil and sugar until it resembles wet sand.
- Add milk, eggs and vanilla extract. Whisk until combined.
- In a small bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, coffee and salt. Mix this into the batter and whisk until just combined.
- Spray a 10-inch Bundt pan generously with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean, about 45-50 minutes.
- Let the cake cool for at least 30 minutes in the pan before gently loosening the sides of the cake from the pan and inverting it onto a wire rack to cool completely (spray the rack lightly with nonstick spray before inverting the cake to prevent it from sticking as it finishes cooling).
Glaze Directions
- Add chocolate chips to a bowl.
- In the microwave or small saucepan, heat the heavy cream until hot, but not boiling.
- Pour the hot cream over the chocolate chips and let it sit for a minute or two to melt the chocolate. Stir until all the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.
- Let the ganache cool until slightly warm, but still pourable. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake.
- Arrange the raspberries over the top of the cake. Keep chilled until ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
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Written by Laura Bashar
Hi, I’m Laura, a certified professional cook and cookbook author living in San Diego. I have been sharing my family’s favorite recipes inspired from all over the world since 2008. Let’s cook up something fun!
