My mulberry olive oil cake has moist, tender crumbs with pockets of jammy mulberries and a crunchy demerara-almond topping.
This spring our Pakistan mulberry tree fruited early. Coupled with the torrential rain we got this year, the tree flourished and we had our first harvest by late April. Since then we couldn’t eat them fast enough. Instead of wasting the imperfect, bruised mulberries, I made a mulberry olive cake. The cake has moist, tender crumbs with a lemony note, pockets of jammy mulberries, and a crunchy demerara-almond topping. This mulberry olive oil cake makes an easy bake that you can enjoy from spring to summer.
Ingredient Notes
- Mulberries: for this recipe, I used Pakistan mulberries. They taste sweet with low acidity. If you can't find mulberries, blackberries or boysenberries make a great substitute.
- Olive oil: when it comes to baking, choose a quality fruity olive oil. Arbequina olives are small and distinctly sweet, producing buttery, fruity, and smooth olive oil, most suited for sweet baking. Cakes made with olive oil tend to bake up with a moist and tender texture compared to ones made with butter.
- Greek yogurt: like other dairy products, adding Greek yogurt to cake batter makes the crumb moist and tender. Use only plain whole-milk, full-fat Greek yogurt for the best flavor. If you’re trying to cut calories, use 2% but avoid nonfat, as it contains fillers and stabilizers that change the taste and texture of what you’re baking. Sour cream, creme fraiche, and cream cheese are other alternatives that I use.
How to Make This Cake
This mulberry olive oil cake is one of the easiest cakes you can add to your dessert repertoire. It only requires a bowl, a whisk, and a few steps to make. First whisk all the wet ingredients together. Then sift in all the dry ingredients. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Top with mulberries, sliced almonds, and a sprinkle of demerara sugar. It takes less than an hour from prep to baking.
Tips for a Moist Cake
Everything that goes into making a cake affects its flavor and texture. Besides measuring the right ingredients and following instructions to the t, there are a few essential steps for getting a moist cake. Preheat your oven to ensure the proper temperature. Opening the oven door during baking creates great fluctuations in heat and causes your cake to collapse. Over-mixing the batter will incorporate too much air resulting in the cake falling and becoming dense. Don’t overbake or the texture will be dry. Place the cake on the middle rack so the heat is distributed evenly between the top and bottom.
How Long to Bake the Cake
Bake the mulberry olive oil cake for 38-40 minutes at 350 degress F. Check for doneness 5-8 minutes before the required baking time because not all ovens act the same. The best method for testing a cake's doneness is with a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake. When it comes out clean, the cake is done. If the cake is still wet, bake it for another 5 minutes.
What to Serve the Cake With
The mulberry olive oil cake is best served the day it's baked. Serve warm by itself. Whipped cream, cream fraiche, or vanilla ice cream makes the perfect accompaniment.
Make Ahead / Storage
You can bake this cake 24 hours ahead. Keep in an airtight container at room temperature. The cake will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 72 hours. Warm up the cake in the oven at 350 degrees F for 5-7 minutes before serving.
For more baking inspiration:
Mulberry Olive Oil Cake
Ingredients
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup olive oil and extra for brushing
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt (sour cream or creme fraiche)
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- ½ tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups fresh mulberries, stems removed
- ¼ cup sliced almonds
- 1 tablespoon demerara sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Line a 9-inch round cake pan with parchment. Brush the bottom and sides with olive oil.
- Place sugar, olive oil, eggs, yogurt, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract in a large bowl and whisk until well combined.
- Place a fine mesh sieve directly over the bowl, and sift in dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt).
- Whisk in dry ingredients until well combined.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake pan. Smooth the top with an offset spatula.
- Top the batter with fresh mulberries. Don't press the mulberries into the battery.
- Sprinkle sliced almonds on top followed by demerara sugar.
- Bake for 38-40 minutes until golden brown or a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan.
- When ready to serve, cut the cake into 8 pieces.
Maya
Fantastic recipe! Easy to follow instructions and the cake came out incredible. I did have to leave it in for 10 minutes longer than the stated time, but I believe that may have been the fault of my heart-shaped pan causing uneven baking. I didn’t have almonds so I included a 1/4 cup of ground pistachios into the batter and topped the cake with more pistachio - so delicious and added a really nice nutty flavor. What a great recipe to use up fresh mulberries!
Vy Tran
Hi Maya! I'm so happy to hear it turned out delicious with the touch of pistachios. I also have a mulberry crumble ice cream that you might like. Unfortunately we were so busy this year that we didn't have time to bake or cook with the mulberries and ended up making mulberry wine instead so I really miss this mulberry cake.
Nelly
This cake is delicious! I used 3 cups of malberries (I folded 1 cup into the batter and 2 cups for the topping) and it came out amazing! I did have to bake it for 20 minutes longer because I used fozen berries. I've made this twice and every time its been a showstopper!
Vy Tran
Nelly I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed the cake! That's a great idea freezing mulberries. I need to do that next season.
Sandy Burlem
My neighbor-friend gave me a bunch of mulberries from her Pakistan Mulberry tree and I found your olive oil cake recipe in a search. I love your story, Vy. I also live in San Diego and feel so lucky to have a friend who shares the abundance from her mulberry tree. I made the cake last night, cut it into 8 slices and shared 6 slices with friends (so my husband & i didn't eat the entire cake). We are all raving about it, it's excellent! Will be checking your site regularly for more inspiration. Thank you, Vy.
Vy Tran
You're very welcome Sandy! I'm so happy to hear you and everyone enjoyed the cake. For the cake, I also have a raspberry and peach version that's similar or you could substitute the mulberries with blackberries if you want to bake it again. It's really nice to have edible gifts. Sadly the birds ate most of our mulberries this year even though we netted the tree. I do have a mulberry crumble ice cream if you want to try it next season!
Amy
I have to say, this mulberry cake turned out amazing. I accidentally left out the lemon juice (I did remember the zest!) so it probably would have been even better if I hadn't made that mistake.
I added an extra 1/2 cup or so of mulberries mixed into the batter. This cake did take considerably longer to bake than the recipe says - I kept it in the oven for around 15 minutes longer.
I am going to see how this recipe works out as muffins instead as a cake. Appreciate this excellent recipe! If you have mulberries to use, make this cake!
sgadmin
hi Amy! I'm so glad you enjoyed this cake. The extra mulberries are always welcomed. If you have extra mulberries, freeze them to make it when you have the craving.
Maryann
I'm planning on making this cake tonight, but have one question: When eaten raw, my sweet mulberries have a stem that extends to inside the fruit, and when you eat them, you need to sort of pull out the stem with your teeth. This recipe calls for whole mulberries without the stem, but does that mean removing just the outer stem, or the stem that runs inside as well? I don't think the latter can be done without destroying the shape of the fruit. Or does the inner stem become soft when cooked? I'd love to know before embarking on this recipe. Many thanks!
sgadmin
hi Maryann! I only remove part of the stem sticking out and just eat the inner stem as part of the cake.