Vegan Chocolate Olive Oil Cake With Olive Oil Frosting

I love to bake with good extra virgin olive oil because it adds a wonderful, rich flavour to cakes, tortes, brownies, and bread. Baking with olive oil also gives baked goods a light texture. Baking with it – instead of butter, is a good way to cut saturated fat. Plus, olive oil is loaded with monounsaturated fat, which promotes good cholesterol. Good olive oil is and has always been a part of my life in the kitchen. My mom has had olive oil imported from Greece for as long as I can remember and I have always gotten my stash from her. I have never taken a drop of it for granted. It’s like liquid gold in my house.

This is common in most European (especially Greek, Italian and Portuguese) households. Today,  it’s said that Spain is the largest producer of olive oil by volume, followed by Italy and Greece. However, per capita national consumption is highest in Greece – we Greeks truly treasure our olive oil and not only use it to cook with and bake with but we use it to dress and finish off our meals and salads too. We enjoy it’s rich flavour and aroma so very much.  This is why I was so over the moon to be partnering up with Kalikori to create a simple yet delicious recipe using their Premium cold pressed L’olivier de Vassily Olive Oil.

When you first crack open the bottle and take a sniff you can tell this is not your ordinary olive oil. In Greek we say μοσχοβολάει which is one word to describe something beautifully fragrant. This olive oil comes directly from an olive grove of vatsikes olive trees in the hills near Kalethéa, in the Kalamata region of Greece. It’s a grove on family land owned, nurtured and harvested by the Ligris family since the first grove was planted in 1950. It was planted by Vassily Ligris and his son and now it’s in the hands of his granddaughter Effy Ligris. Effy, with the approval and blessing of her family, has established her company Kalikori so that she can share this bounty with others across the Atlantic. It is so appropriate that the name of the company is  Kalikori meaning “good daughter” in Greek and pays homage to Effy’s forebears and her heritage. Kalikori’s premium cold-pressed L’Olivier de Vassily olive oil, is named after and in honor of her Grandfather “Papou Vassily”.

The small green vatsikes variety of olives are exclusively grown for oil. And as a result of an early harvest and the rocky mountainous Kalamata region, the amount of oil produced from the Ligris grove is small but of Premium quality, L’Olivier de Vassily is not a blend. It comes only from the olives of the Vatsikes trees planted by Effy’s “Papou” and Father, The early picking gives the oil its green colour, its aroma its peppery finish and the flavor of spring grass under the Mediterranean sun. Like fine wine, the unique flavor of each year’s yield depends on the climate and the rainfall. As the quantity is limited, the number of bottles varies from year to year making it a very precious commodity.

I decided on this olive oil cake because it’s one of my favourite simple-to-make chocolate cakes. It’s made with very basic pantry ingredients. The texture of it is wonderful when baking it with olive oil and the flavour is rich a decadent. I wanted to showcase this wonderful olive oil in something baked but also as a ‘finishing oil’ so to speak or in its raw form, creating a simple frosting for the cake as well. The frosting is rich, velvety and fudgey. The cocoa stands up well with the very bold and distinct  flavour of this olive oil. You will love this cake. It bakes up in no time. You can double the recipe to make this beautiful layered cake which is a bit of a showstopper for special occasions or you can keep it single layered for a simple family dinner or bbq. It doesn’t take much to dress it. Pile on fresh berries and you can even dust a little powdered sugar or cocoa for a little something extra. With very little effort, this bowl and whisk cake sure impresses and will have you going back for an extra slice.

I have partnered up with Kalikori to bring you this fabulous recipe, but all opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting Olive & Mango.

Recipe

Makes one 9 inch cake

Ingredients

• 1½ cups of all purpose flour
• ¾ cup unsweetened good quality cocoa powder
• 1½ tsps baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ¾ cup brown sugar or coconut sugar
• ½ cup Kalikori’s premium cold-pressed L’Olivier de Vassily olive oil
• 1½ cups brewed coffee or water (I always use coffee)
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar or white vinegar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 ° F and grease a 8-9 inch round cake pan then line the bottom with parchment paper, grease paper and lightly dust with a little cocoa powder
2. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, cocoa, salt and just the granulated sugar. Then add the brown sugar and olive oil and whisk well to combine. Add the coffee and vinegar and whisk until smooth
3. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes until the top is springy and a tester comes out mostly clean. A few sticky crumbs is ok.
4. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes then loosen edges with a knife and flip it out onto a cooling rack to cool the rest of they way
5. If not frosting it the same day I wrap the cake in plastic wrap once it’s cool and store in the fridge until ready to frost

For the Chocolate Icing

Enough to ice one 9 inch cake

Ingredients

• ¾ cup icing sugar
• 2-3 tbs cacao or cocoa powder
• ⅓-½ cup Kalikori’s premium cold-pressed L’Olivier de Vassily olive oil (you can use more or less than the amount I’ve mentioned here - it’s all about your preference!)
• Mixed fresh berries for garnish (optional)

Directions

• In another bowl, combine your icing ingredients with a whisk, use less oil to begin with, tasting along the way and checking for the consistency you like and then ice the cake with it.