What makes Maialino's olive oil cake different from a standard Italian olive oil cake?

Most Italian olive oil cakes — torta all'olio d'oliva — use roughly equal volumes of oil and a liquid (milk, juice, wine). Maialino's version pushes olive oil to a 1⅓ cup quantity for a 9-inch cake, which is unusually generous, and builds a double citrus structure: fresh orange zest baked into the batter plus orange juice and Grand Marnier in the wet mix. The result is a cake that is denser and moister than a classic American yellow cake, with a crumb that almost shatters under a fork and a citrus flavor that hits all the way through, not just on top. It also uses a full ¾ teaspoon each of baking soda and baking powder, which together give enough lift to keep the oil from weighing it down — the cake rises to about 1½ inches, which is correct and deliberate.

Can I use blood oranges, and does it change the flavor?

Yes — blood oranges are the traditional and most dramatic version, and they are at their best in season (roughly January through March in the U.S.). Blood orange zest is slightly more floral and less sharp than navel orange, and the juice adds a faint berry-like note the cake would otherwise lack. The visual difference in the baked cake is minimal — the batter turns the same golden color regardless — but the flavor is noticeably more complex with blood oranges. Use them if you can find them. Out of season, navel oranges are the correct substitute; mandarins or tangerines also work but tip the flavor sweeter.

What olive oil should I use, and does the quality really matter here?

Yes, noticeably. Olive oil is the fat and the flavor in this cake — there is no butter to compete with it, so a bland or stale oil produces a flat-tasting cake. Use a young, fruity extra-virgin olive oil: Sicilian (like Frantoi Cutrera or Zingerman's Sicilian) or Ligurian styles work best because they are grassy and peppery rather than bitter. Robust, peppery Tuscan oils can overwhelm the orange. The standard supermarket pick is California Olive Ranch EVOO — it's reliably fresh, slightly fruity, and widely available. Avoid olive oils labeled 'pure' or 'light' — those are refined and contribute nothing. The recipe uses 1⅓ cups of oil; the cost difference between a mid-tier and a premium bottle is roughly $0.50 per serving.

Can I skip the Grand Marnier?

You can replace it with 2 extra tablespoons of fresh orange juice and 1 tablespoon of orange extract, but the Grand Marnier adds more than flavor: the alcohol slightly relaxes the gluten structure as the cake bakes, contributing to the open, delicate crumb Maialino's version is known for. The alcohol fully bakes off. If you want a completely alcohol-free version, adding 1 teaspoon of orange extract with the extra juice gets you close. Cointreau and Triple Sec are identical substitutes.

Why does the recipe call for both baking soda and baking powder?

Baking soda reacts with the slight acidity in the orange juice to provide immediate lift when the batter hits the oven. Baking powder — which contains its own acid — provides a second, sustained lift during baking. Used together at the same quantity (¾ teaspoon each), they give the cake enough rise to stay light despite the weight of 1⅓ cups of oil, without making it taste metallic (which happens when too much baking soda is used with insufficient acid). This is a standard double-acting lift for oil-based cakes and is part of why the Maialino recipe has been republished for more than a decade without modification.

How long does it keep, and should I refrigerate it?

The olive oil makes this cake significantly more shelf-stable than a butter cake. At room temperature, covered loosely, it stays moist and good for 3 days. In the refrigerator it lasts 5 to 6 days, though you should let it return to room temperature before serving — cold oil-based cakes lose most of their characteristic silkiness. Do not freeze: the texture becomes slightly gummy after thawing. If you are making it ahead for a dinner party, bake it the night before, cool it fully, then wrap it tightly in plastic at room temperature.

Maialino Orange Olive Oil Cake

Name: Maialino Orange Olive Oil Cake
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: 12
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: Cake:; 1¾ cups (220g) all-purpose flour; 1½ cups (300g) granulated sugar; ¾ tsp baking soda; ¾ tsp baking powder; ½ tsp fine salt; 1⅓ cups (315ml) extra-virgin olive oil (fruity Sicilian or California EVOO); 1¼ cups (300ml) whole milk; 3 large eggs; 1½ tbsp finely grated orange zest (from 2 navel oranges or 3 blood oranges when in season); ¼ cup (60ml) fresh orange juice; ¼ cup (60ml) Grand Marnier (or Cointreau; see FAQ for alcohol-free); To serve:; Powdered sugar for dusting; 1 cup heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks with 1 tsp sugar; Fresh orange segments (optional but restaurant-style)

Prep time: 15 min Cook time: 1 hr Servings: 12

Danny Meyer’s Roman trattoria Maialino served this cake from the day it opened inside the Gramercy Park Hotel in 2009 until the hotel closed in March 2020. It is the rare restaurant dessert that earns its reputation — dense and moist from 1⅓ cups of olive oil, deeply citrusy from both orange zest and Grand Marnier, and almost shatteringly tender in a way that butter cakes simply are not. Food52 made it a Genius Recipe in 2014, and it has been in perpetual rotation on food blogs ever since — the cake outlived its own dining room. A slice ran about $20 at the restaurant. At home, the entire cake costs about $3.

The technique is about as simple as cake gets: dry ingredients in one bowl, wet in another, fold together until just combined, bake for an hour. The only decisions that matter are (1) use a good, fruity extra-virgin olive oil — this is the flavor of the cake, not a background note — and (2) don’t overbake. Deep golden means done; pale gold means it needs more time. A toothpick comes out clean when it is ready.

Maialino is a trademark of its owner, used here only to describe the dish this recipe recreates. This is an independent copycat written in our own words — Copycat Spices is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Maialino.

Maialino Orange Olive Oil Cake

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