Bundt cakes are secret powerhouses of flavor and this tangerine rosemary olive oil cake is no exception. Aromatic and sweet flavors combine into a party for your taste buds.

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The flavor of this tangerine rosemary olive oil cake was inspired by one friend’s creation shared on Instagram in mini bunt form but then made a reality by adapting from another friends recipe. So much friend loving.

While I did consider making these in my mini bunt pan (gifted to me by another friend, The Baking Fairy), I decided to go big and use my favorite bundt pan instead because I don’t use it enough for being my favorite. Maybe I will keep it in rotation and make a blueberry lemon bundt cake next.

Besides the shape of the pan, the other important components were the tangerines from Melissa’s Produce for #SpringSweetsWeek back in March (yes I made this a long time ago and am just now sharing it, my bad), and the rosemary olive oil all the way from Italy thanks to Pomora. Both are delicious on their own, but combined? Oh my.

While you don’t have to make this tangerine rosemary olive oil cake with those specific products, they are pretty stellar ingredients and definitely helped make this cake delicious. In truth, this may be one of my favorite recipes from 2024. Stay tuned for the end of year Best of 2024 Recipes recap ;-).

Aside from the bundt shape and flavor, my other favorite thing about this tangerine rosemary olive oil cake is how freaking flavorful it is. I know it looks kind of boring, but I think that’s the secret to bundt cakes. They are unsuspecting-looking powerhouses.

No need for fancy frosting or baking skills, just simple, delicious flavors all baked into one pan, which then gets doused in glaze. You could add some fresh fruit if you want or whipped cream, but it really can stand on its own.

TANGERINE ROSEMARY OLIVE OIL CAKE

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Yield: 16 Servings Prep Time: 20 Minutes Cooking Time: 55 Minutes 55 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Ingredients

CAKE

• 2-3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 2-1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 cup Pomora rosemary olive oil*
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp tangerine zest (from about 2)
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup fresh squeezed tangerine juice (from 3-4)
• 1/2 cup milk, room temperature

GLAZE

• 1-1/4 cups powdered sugar
• 3 Tbsp tangerine juice
• Zest from 1 tangerine
• 1 Tbsp melted butter
• Splash vanilla extract
• Pinch salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with rack on bottom third. Coat a large 10-12 cup bundt pan with Baker's Joy non-stick spray** or heavily grease and flour the pan; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder; set aside.
3. In a glass measuring cup, combine the juice and milk; set aside.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer (or large bowl with hand mixer), beat the oil, sugar, and zest on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well between eat. Beat in the vanilla extract.
5. Beating on medium speed, add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with half of the liquid mixture, ending with the flour mixture.
6. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for 15-20 minutes, then carefully invert the cake onto a cooling rack, remove from pan, and cool completely.

Notes

* or add 1 Tbsp dried rosemary to regular olive oil. ** In this case, using a specific kind of non-stick spray truly matters. With all those nooks in a bundt pan, you need a high quality spray.

Source: Adapted from Neighborfood.

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I’m thrilled to be doing my first ever guest post here on The Spiffy Cookie! I’m always so impressed with Erin’s posts and the fact that she puts up a new and delicious recipe every day of the week! I graduated with my phd a few years ago and I can totally relate to all of her posts about spending the weekend in the lab and explaining to your family that you are in school but you don’t take classes! I don’t know how she manages to post everyday, I was lucky if I had time to feed myself in grad school, not to mention feed the internets!

I decided to share this recipe with you today because of how it was received at work. I baked this cake over the weekend and cut a slice to photograph and then subsequently eat. On Monday I brought it in and set it in the lunchroom with a simple note “Tangerine pound cake”. Upon returning thirty minutes later, I found an empty cake platter with much of the icing scraped off too. Aww, I wanted some…

I just had to laugh. I work with many formed grad students and you never lose the grad student mentality of “free food is always welcome”. I’m sure Erin is also aware of this mantra. If you get an email mentioning free food, you better get there fast or it will be gone!

Tangerine Pound Cake

Luckily, you can make your own tangerine pound cake, although I wouldn’t be upset if there were a free one sitting in front of me right now! If you have access to tangerines, you should use their rind and juice. If you can’t find them at the store (like me) feel free to substitute orange peel and tangerine juice from the bottle.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 2/3 cup sugar
6 tbsp butter, melted
6 ounces, less-fat cream cheese
2 eggs
1/4 canola oil
2 tbsp grated orange peel
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup tangerine juice

1/2 cup tangerine juice
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 325 F.  Coat a bundt pan with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.  In a large bowl, beat together sugar, butter, cream cheese until fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time.  Add oil, vanilla extract and orange peel.

Add 1/3 flour mixture to the sugar mixture.  Add heavy cream.  Add 1/3 more flour.  Add tangerine juice.  Add final amount of flour and beat until smooth.  Pour cake batter into the bundt pan and smooth the top.

Bake cake for 1 hour and 10 minutes.  Test cake with a toothpick, it should come out only with crumbs clinging.  Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.  Remove pan and allow to cool completely right side up.

Prepare the glaze once the cake is cool.  In a small saucepan, bring tangerine juice to a boil and cook until reduced by half.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.  Add salt and whisk to dissolve.  Add powdered sugar and whisk until smooth.  Pour over the cake and allow it to pool in the middle.