Cypriot Olive Cake – Elioti

Name: Cypriot Olive Cake – Elioti
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h 15 min
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 12
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Ingredients: 20 sprigs of fresh coriander, see notes; 2 sprigs of fresh onion, washed; 2 tbs fresh mint, washed; 220 g pitted olives, see notes; 500 g self-raising flour; ½ tsp salt; 1 tbs sugar, see notes; 1 tbs dried mint; 200 mL orange juice, see notes; 200 mL tap water; 125 mL olive oil; 1 tbs olive oil; 1 tbs sesame seeds

Simple and easy to make

This Cypriot olive cake is the easiest recipe to put together! Simply chop up the ingredients and mix them all together! A fantastic snack to enjoy for breakfast with your coffee, a 3pm pick up, as well as for the kids’ school lunch boxes.

Ladi Biosas – Premium olive oil

I’ve recently had the great opportunity to try out some premium extra virgin olive oil from Ladi Biosas in Greece. The olive oil is extracted from olives harvested at an organic olive grove in the region of Messinia, Peloponnese. The family who owns it is very proud of their unique produce and they have also received numerous awards for it the last few years.

One of the items included in the package I received was this orange infused extra virgin olive oil pictured below. Opening the bottle alone released such beautiful fruity aroma! And how pretty is the bottle?

Image of some of the ingredients used for the olive cake including a bottle of the orange infused olive oil , chopped olives, spring onions and coriander as well as orange juice.

Not quite a cake

The Cypriot olive cake, is referred to as a cake but it is not the spongy chocolate type. And of course not like an olive bread, which is more like a piece of bread with olives spread throughout it. This elioti is a savoury alternative that combines fresh herbs and lots of olives with no need for any proofing or kneading! The main herbs included are mint and coriander, which can be substituted for parsley.

Image of the baking dish with the baked olive cake

Wet ingredients used

As you read on the recipe you may see a very controversial ingredient… That is substituting the orange juice for a soft drink, 7up or even Fanta. My mum’s recipe book had a couple of variations for the wet ingredients added and this was the major change. I’ve tried the recipe using the different liquids and they’ve all produced a good result. The difference though being the taste produced, more sour from the orange juice versus a sweeter version using the soft drink.

Image of the baked olive cake with a few pieces cut up.

I really hope you make the Cypriot olive cake and enjoy it as much as we do!

Cypriot Olive Cake – Elioti

Rated 5.0 stars by 1 users

Cuisine

Mediterranean

Author

Eleni Georges

Servings

12 pieces

Prep Time

15 minutes

Cook Time

75 minutes

Ingredients

20 sprigs of fresh coriander, see notes
2 sprigs of fresh onion, washed
2 tbs fresh mint, washed
220 g pitted olives, see notes
500 g self-raising flour
½ tsp salt
1 tbs sugar, see notes
1 tbs dried mint
200 mL orange juice, see notes
200 mL tap water
125 mL olive oil
1 tbs olive oil
1 tbs sesame seeds

Directions

Preheat the oven to 170°C fan forced. Chop the olives, mint and spring onion, then set aside. To prepare the coriander, wash and dry it well. Remove the roots on the end and chop the rest of the stem and leaves to use.
Sift the flour in a large bowl, add the dry mint, sugar and salt (add more salt if the olives are not very salty). Mix it all with a wooden spoon. Make a well in the middle and add the orange juice, water and olive oil (125mL). Combine all the ingredients with a spoon. The mixture should be quite sticky and not very smooth.
Place the chopped olives, fresh mint, fresh coriander and onion in the bowl with the flour, mixing with the spoon until all is evenly distributed.
Prepare a rectangular baking dish (mine measured 27cm x 20cm) with a bit of flour to coat all the surfaces. Pour the mixture into the baking dish. Drizzle the tablespoon of olive oil on top and use the back of the spoon to spread it all out. Sprinkle the sesame seeds on top and then bake the olive cake on the middle rack for 75min or until it is cooked through.
Once the olive cake is cooked leave it in the baking dish for 5min or so and then place it on a cooling rack to completely cool down. To then store it, place it in a cool place in an air tight container.

Recipe Note

For the sprigs of coriander I measure them when they are on their actual roots. Hence a large bunch of coriander is needed. If coriander is not a herb you like then you may substitute it with parsley.
The pitted olives (pit removed) were about 1 ½ cups. When I’ve used whole olives (unpitted) before they measured about 300g before I removed the pits.
If you are using a soft drink (see below) then do not use any additional sugar.
Orange juice is commonly substituted with Sprite or Fanta for this recipe (same amount). If you are replacing it then omit the added sugar in the ingredients.

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8 comments

I just love this recipe! It’s always a hit in our household – thank you for sharing! Quick question: can it be made ahead?

Hello, can I please ask if this recipe can be made with plain flour ? Or even with rye or spelt flour? Also can I use milk instead of orange juice. Also can I use a normal onion instead of fresh green onions
Thank you in advance 🙏

I made it first time for a coffee morning with my aqua aerobic friends and as a few were fasting I was looking for some easy olive cake. It’s really very simple but to my surprise it didn’t rise at all and didn’t look like the picture. Few days later, out of curiosity, I tried it again but added one teaspoon of baking powder and a pinch of baking soda. Wow, that was!

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Cypriot Olive Cake – Elioti

Simple and easy to make

Ladi Biosas – Premium olive oil

Not quite a cake

Wet ingredients used

Cypriot Olive Cake – Elioti

Category

Cuisine

Author

Servings

Prep Time

Cook Time

Ingredients

Directions

Recipe Note

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