When life gives you lemons make my Italian Lemon Olive Oil Sheet Cake with a Mascarpone Frosting. The cake is extra spongy, full of flavor, light and creamy due to the frosting and slightly tangy with a bite of fresh berries. This cake is perfect for holidays and special occasions to impress loved ones. It is also so simple to make.
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Why you will love this cake recipe
- It is made in a 16×12 sheet pan making it easy to serve a crowd and to decorate
- The olive oil makes the cake extra spongy, moist and delicious
- The frosting is not overly sweet
- The batter comes together in one bowl
Ingredient Notes
Flour: Use a good quality All Purpose Un Bleached Flour for the cookies like Wheat Montana White Flour or King Arthur Organic All Purpose Flour. I always bake with Unbleached because it doesn’t contain the chemicals used in bleached flour to whiten it. Instead the flour is milled to oxidize on its own overtime. And if you take a step further the organic flour is free of glyphosates and GMO’s. It is important to me to choose the quality ingredient not only for nutrients but because it provides the most flavor and taste is everything. Especially with baking. Here’s a great article by at Lehi Mills (a local mill I buy flour from in Utah) about the difference between flours so you can decide which is best for you.
Olive Oil: Use a quality olive oil and make sure the ingredient label reads “Extra Virgin Olive Oil” only. Or else it more than likely contains other cheap oils like canola oil to dilute it. My preference is a Kalamata Olive Oil from Greece or Turkey because the flavor notes are more buttery than fruity and pairs beautifully in baked goods. You can also use avocado oil or coconut oil if olive oil is not your favorite.
Mascarpone: Mascarpone can be hard to find but if you go to trader joes or another natural/healthy grocery store they should sell it. If not you can use cream cheese isntead.
Sugar: I use organic cane sugar always because it gives me peace of mind knowing it is less processed than regular sugar (containing some nutrients from the sugar cane) and does not contain glyphosates. Here’s a good article by “The Skinny on Sweets” to read that talks about the difference between organic sugar vs. regular sugar. However you can use regular refined sugar and still yield a very good tasting cake.
Salt: Salt helps to enhance the flavors of the other ingredients when using in baking. That is why it is so important not to forget it. It also helps to counter act the sweetness in desserts so a dessert isn not overly sweet. My go to salt is Redmond’s Real Salt. It is an unrefined salt, mined from an ancient sea bed in Utah in the middle of no where. I promise it is the best quality salt you will find. Use my code Cookieeclub to save 15% off of your orders always.
How to make the cake:
Cake Batter:
- Start by preheating the oven to 325 F. Then grease and flour a 13×9 baking sheet to set aside for later.
- Next in a large mixing bowl add sugar, olive oil, eggs, milk, lemon juice and lemon zest.
- Using a hand mixer, cream the ingredients together for about 2 minutes until the mixture is slightly pale in color.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and fold them into the wet ingredients until the last bit of flour disappears.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared baking pan that has been greased and floured and evenly spread the batter out with a rubber spatula.
- Place the sheet cake into the preheated oven at 325 F and bake the cake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick has been inserted and comes out mostly clean with a few crumbs stuck to it.
- Cool the cake completely and begin making the frosting.
Frosting:
- In a separate mixing bowl whip the mascarpone, powdered sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest together until just combined.
- Pour in the heavy cream and whip to stiff peaks. Don’t over mix or the frosting or it will clump and curdle.
- Spread the frosting over the cooled cake and serve with fresh berries if you choose.
Leftovers:
Store leftover in the fridge for up to 3 days in an airtight container or use a sheet pan lid to preserve freshness.
Italian Lemon Olive Oil Sheet Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 eggs
- 1 ⅓ cup whole milk
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 zested lemon
- 2 cups organic cane sugar
- 2 cups organic all-purpose unbleached flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon Redmond salt
Frosting:
- 8 oz chilled mascarpone
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 zested lemon
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
Topping:
- Fresh raspberries, sliced strawberries or blackberries
Instructions
- Start by preheating the oven to 325 F. Then grease and flour a 13×9 baking sheet to set aside for later.
- Next in a large mixing bowl add sugar, olive oil, eggs, milk, lemon juice and lemon zest.
- Using a hand mixer, cream the ingredients together for about 2 minutes until the mixture is slightly pale in color.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and fold them into the wet ingredients until the last bit of flour disappears.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared baking pan that has been greased and floured and evenly spread the batter out with a rubber spatula.
- Place the sheet cake into the preheated oven at 325 F and bake the cake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick has been inserted and comes out mostly clean with a few crumbs stuck to it.
- Cool the cake completely and begin making the frosting.
- In a separate mixing bowl whip the mascarpone, powdered sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest together until just combined.
- Pour in the heavy cream and whip to stiff peaks. Don’t over mix or the frosting or it will clump and curdle.
- Spread the frosting over the cooled cake and serve with fresh berries if you choose.
- Store leftover in the fridge for up to 3 days in an airtight container or use a sheet pan lid to preserve freshness.
- Enjoy!