A super refreshing cake made with fresh mint, lemon juice and zest, making for a wonderful combination. There’s no need to bother with frosting or even a glaze. Kept in an air-tight container, it stays moist for days and days.

As you know by now, I am a big fan of a surprise reveal for the interior of a cake (see rainbow cake, cherry blossom cake, see many other cakes here!). On the outside, this one looks like an average tea cake, one you hope will be decent enough to make do with your drink. But, hold up! Inside it’s a beautiful shade of green, made possible by blending in a bouquet of fresh mint.

What’s to love about a green cake?

There are so many things about this cake that make me happy: it is incredibly moist thanks to a glug of olive oil which is emulsified into a fluffy egg and sugar mixture; the taste is super refreshing because, in addition to the fresh mint, there’s both lemon juice and zest, making for a wonderful combination (see limonana).

And, there’s absolutely no need to bother with frosting it or even a glaze. This is literally a bake it, and it’s ready to serve. Kept in an air-tight container, it stays moist for days and days. Aside from being a wonderful cake for short-notice guests, I anticipate it will make a wonderful summer potluck cake when you don’t want to be in the kitchen too long and when you want to show up with an intriguing cake to unassuming guests who then ooh and aah at your awesomeness.

• But sam! You already have a fresh mint cake with both lemon and olive oil on the blog! This is true… The other is different in a few ways but mainly in texture; there is a slight crunch from the semolina. I loved it when I made it but if you put both in front of me I would choose this one. Texture wise, I tend to favor moist cakes over crumbly and this one is a total gobble-worthy moist level. This one also has both more mint and more lemon and so the flavor is intensified.

Notes on making Mint Lemon Olive Oil Cake

• This recipe is adapted from Samantha Senenvirante’s olive oil cake via nytcooking (which btw is glorious!): my main addition is the mint, of course, but I also cut the recipe by a third to fit into the more common 8inch cake pan.
• Senenvirante has you sprinkle sugar on top for a bit of a crunchy topping which I did as you see in the photos. If you prefer to serve this with a glaze, skip the sugar topping. Make a glaze out of organic powdered sugar and some lemon juice. You could even add mint to the glaze by pulsing it with the powdered sugar in a food processor. Or, like I did in this aforementioned cake, press some raspberries through a mesh sieve and mix the juice with the powdered sugar.
• In my trials making this, and according to many reviewers of the original recipe, the cake rose too high to fit into a 2” tall pan. Thus, for best results use a 8×3” cake pan. Don’t have one? Amazon sells this one which is perfect for this cake and any other eight incher. I highly recommend all of Fat Daddio’s cake pans – I have them in 5, 6 and 8” round, all at 3” high. The anodized aluminum material is the best for baking cakes because it’s non-reactive and bakes up an even, light cake. Read more about it in this article on Serious Eats.

Recipe for Mint Lemon Olive Oil Cake

Mint Lemon Olive Oil Cake

Lemon and mint join forces here to make up a full flavored incredibly moist tea cake.

5 from 5 votes

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Ingredients

• 3/4 cup milk 200g
• 1 cup mint stuffed into the cup pack as much as you can, rinsed and patted dry
• 2 large eggs at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ⅔ cup olive oil
• 1 ½ cups or 180g all purpose flour
• Heaped 1/2 teaspoon salt
• ¾ teaspoon baking powder
• ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
• freshly grated zest of 2 lemons
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• granulated sugar for topping

Method

• Heat oven to 375 F. Butter and flour an 8” round, 3” high, cake pan.
• In a food processor or blender, blend the milk and mint until the mint is totally combined. It will look light green at first, and will darken as you make the cake batter.
• In a bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and soda.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer or bowl fitted with a hand mixer, beat together the eggs, zest and sugar until thick and fluffy, 5-7 minutes.
• While mixer is running, drizzle in the olive oil slowly, allowing it to emulsify and thoroughly combine.
• Add mint milk and lemon juice, and beat to just combine.
• Add dry ingredients and beat to just combine.
• Pour into prepared pan, sprinkle with a tablespoon or two of granulated sugar.
• Bake and check for doneness at 30-35 minutes.

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