piece of honey olive oil pistachio cake on a plate with bite on fork

Spring-Summer Menu Two Ways

Honeyed Orange Pistachio Olive Oil Cake

Sweet and moist, this honey and olive oil cake is light but decadent, with flavors of juicy orange, spicy cardamom, and roasted pistachios.

Bursting with flavor, this citrus and honey olive oil cake is the ideal dessert, no matter the season. We originally envisioned this dessert as part of our spring / summer party series, but the sweet spice of cardamom and roasted pistachio make it ideal for fall and winter as well.

We will walk you step-by-step through the recipe and how we would serve it at either a spring brunch or summer dinner party, along with our recommended honeys for the cake and honey glaze. If you'd rather skip the small talk and get straight to the recipe, use the jump to recipe button below!

whole honey olive oil cake with orange and pistachio at a spring brunch

honey orange cardamom pistachio olive oil cake with a piece cut out at a summer party

Dessert Two Ways

Spring or Summer?

In this series of recipes, we wanted to showcase the versatility of tea and honey as ingredients and emphasize thinking outside the box. So, in this series of photos you can see the Honeyed Orange & Pistachio Olive Oil cake taking center stage at a spring brunch and a summer dinner party. Where will you serve yours?

Baking with Honey

Recommended Honeys for Your Cake

Baking with honey is not always straight forward. As we've learned in previous posts, baking with honey may require some modifications to your recipe and you always want to keep flavor profile in mind when choosing your honey for baking.

For this particular recipe, we recommend our Orange Blossom honey thanks to its citrus flavor notes. If you'd like a darker cake with a molasses-like flavor profile, try using Buckwheat Honey. Or you might try Alfalfa Honey for a milder honey flavor. You can explore all of these honeys and our other favorite honeys for cooking and baking below!

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Alfalfa Honey

From $ 9.00

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Buckwheat Honey

From $ 9.00

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Orange Blossom Honey

From $ 9.00

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Cinnamon Infused Honey

From $ 10.00

Shop Honey for Baking

Honeyed Orange & Pistachio Olive Oil Cake

Making Your Honey Olive Oil Cake

1. Prep

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare a 9" cake pan: line the bottom with parchment and butter the sides.

sifting flour into a bowl for an olive oil honey cake

2. Combine Dry Ingredients

Sift the flour, baking soda, and baking powder together in a medium bowl.

hand adding pulverized nuts and spices to dry ingredients

3. Prepare the Nuts and Spices

Pulverize the pistachios and cardamom together in a spice grinder or blender and add them to the dry ingredients with the salt and citrus zest.

pouring saratoga tea and honey co honey into wet ingredients for honey olive oil cake

4. Combine the Wet Ingredients

In a separate large bowl, whisk the eggs, honey, and sugar until thickened. Whisk in the milk and olive oil in a steady steam.

whisking dry ingredients slowly into wet ingredients

5. Combine Wet & Dry Ingredients

Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, using the whisk to incorporate slowly. Be careful not to overmix.

baked honey olive oil cake removed from oven

6. Bake

Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake for 60 minutes or until done.

7. Prepare the Glaze

For the glaze: Heat a 1/2 cup honey on the stove until warm. Whisk in 2 Tblsp of cold butter until homogeneous and drizzle over the cooled cake. Garnish with ground pistachios.

Honey Dessert Recipe

Honeyed Orange Pistachio Olive Oil Cake

Ingredients:

For the cake:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup shelled roasted salted pistachios + more for garnish
4 green cardamom pods
Zest of one orange
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup honey (we recommend Orange Blossom)
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups extra virgin olive oil

For the glaze:

1/4 cup honey
2 Tblsp cold butter
Lightly ground salted roasted pistachios for garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare a 9" cake pan: line the bottom with parchment and butter the sides.
2. Sift the flour, baking soda, and baking powder together in a medium bowl.
3. Pulverize the pistachios and cardamom together in a spice grinder or blender and add them to the dry ingredients with the salt and citrus zest.
4. In a separate large bowl, whisk the eggs, honey, and sugar until thickened. Whisk in the milk and olive oil in a steady steam.
5. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, using the whisk to incorporate slowly. Be careful not to overmix.
6. Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake for 60 minutes or until done.
7. For the glaze: Heat a 1/2 cup honey on the stove until warm. Whisk in 2 Tblsp of cold butter until homogeneous and drizzle over the cooled cake. Garnish with ground pistachios.