Moist, lightly spiced, and with a delicious flavour, these easy olive oil cupcakes are an unusual Chanukah treat. Perfect when you can’t face another latke!
In the Chanukah story, after the Maccabees had defeated the Greek army and reclaimed the Holy Temple, they had only enough olive oil to light the Temple menorah for one day. They lit it anyway, and miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days – giving them enough time to prepare more oil before the light extinguished. Hooray!
As a result, Chanukah cooking is traditionally all about the OIL, which seems fair enough, really. But, enough with the frying already! There are latkes, doughnuts, beignets, churros… so many fried foods! Surely there’s another way to incorporate oil into something delicious?
How about a cupcake?
With this in mind, I set about creating a recipe that used lovely olive oil, but not for frying! Enter these cupcakes. Olive oil cakes have been around for ages, but many recipes contain yogurt, fruit, or other extras that just didn’t feel right for Chanukah. I wanted something Wintery – full of warming spices and the flavours of the season.
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Olive Oil Cupcakes
After much testing and tweaking, I finally created the following olive oil cupcakes recipe. The cakes are lightly spiced, with a moist texture, and a subtle flavour of olive oil. The tops are crisp when they are fresh out of the oven, but do soften slightly if you don’t eat them straight away. So eat them quickly, or not, depending on your preference!
If you are feeling indulgent you can dust the olive oil cupcakes with icing sugar or even rustle up a little frosting to glaze the tops. I considered experimenting with making olive oil icing, but ultimately decided against it. You can have too much of a good thing, you know.
Gentle flavours
I flavoured these olive oil cupcakes with vanilla and a hint of spice, as I didn’t want the olive oil to be overwhelming. These warm fragrant flavours all go well together, and do seem to be quite seasonal, too – just the thing to lift the spirits on a cold winter’s day.
Enjoy a lightly spiced olive oil cupcake with a warming mug of tea or hot chocolate. It’s a wonderful combination!
Olive oil cupcakes – Chanukah fun!
As you can see from the photo, I couldn’t resist lining the cupcakes up, topping them with Chanukah candles, and making a delicious olive oil cupcake Menorah out of them. Feel free to try this at at home!
Alternatively, just tuck in.
This recipe makes 18-20 spiced olive oil cupcakes. Chanukah sameach!
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Spiced olive oil cupcakes
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 150 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 200 g golden caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 225 g plain flour
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice
- 200 ml hot water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F), and prepare 18-20 cupcake cases.
- Beat together the eggs, olive oil, sugar and vanilla until creamy and well mixed.
- Separately, mix the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and mixed spice.
- Add half the dry ingredients and half the hot water to the egg mixture and beat well. Add the remaining ingredients and beat until thoroughly combined. The mixture will be warm, and very runny.
- Divide the mixture evenly between the cake cases. They will be around half full. I found the easiest way to do this was to scoop the mixture using a small cup and pour it into the cases.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until risen and golden, and toothpick inserted into the cakes comes out clean.
- Allow to cool, light the Chanukah candles, and enjoy!
Nutrition
More cupcakes
If you like cupcakes, why not also try these blueberry and white chocolate chip cupcakes, these 3-ingredient Nutella cupcakes, or these vegan spiced apple and raisin cupcakes.
I’m entering these yummy spiced olive oil Chanukah cupcakes into the following foodie challenges – Treat Petite, organised by Cakeyboi and The Baking Explorer (who is also hosting this month); Love Cake, over at JibberJabber; and Family Foodies, organised by Vanesther at Bangers & Mash and Lou at Eat Your Veg.
This recipe first appeared in the Chanukah 2013 edition of the CTJC Bulletin.
nessjibberjabberuk
I was hoping to see something like this for December. I love the way the flavours tie in with the olive oil and how the candles fit in the cakes.
FFF
Thanks, and glad to oblige! The candles were fun, but I don’t think we’ll do it every night 🙂
lucyparissi
These look wonderful. I love baking with olive oil – I have some honey spice cookies to make (Greek – they use light olive oil) and you just reminded me I need to get a move on! Thanks for linking to #CookBlogShare
FFF
Thanks Lucy. These were so yummy, I’ll definitely be experimenting with olive oil in baking again. Honey spice cookies sound delicious!
Vanesther
These look lovely. I’ve been meaning to try baking cakes with olive oil for a while now. This looks the perfect recipe to try. Thanks so much for taking part in December’s #FamilyFoodies challenge 🙂
FFF
Thanks Vanesther, and thanks for hosting #FamilyFoodies. Let me know how they turn out 🙂
Kat
I’ve never seen anything like this, but they look great and I love how you’ve tied them into the story of the oil! Thanks for entering into Treat Petite!
FFF
Thanks Kat. And thanks for hosting Treat Petite 🙂
Lucy - BakingQueen74
These look delicious, I bet they have a really delicate flavour. Thanks for the recipe!
FFF
Thanks Lucy! Yes, they are yummy – you can just taste the olive oil without it being too ‘olivey’.