Olive Oil for Baking: A Complete Guide to the Butter Swap
Olive oil for baking sounds, to many home bakers, like a category mistake — surely the bottle by the hob has no business near a cake tin? Yet across the Mediterranean, bakers have been making cakes, breads, and biscuits with olive oil for as long as either has existed, and the results explain why the habit never died: a tender, moist crumb that stays fresh for days, a subtle fruitiness that flatters citrus, chocolate, and nuts, and a one-jug simplicity that beats creaming butter every time. This guide covers how to swap butter for olive oil (including the conversion that actually works), which bakes suit the swap best, what happens to the flavour, and a few honest notes on when butter still wins.
For our own oil, see our cold-pressed organic Marrakech olive oil.
The Short Answer
- Yes — olive oil bakes beautifully: it makes cakes moister, keeps them fresh longer, and replaces butter without creaming, melting, or waiting for anything to soften.
- The working conversion: use about three-quarters the amount — for every 100g of butter, roughly 75ml of olive oil — because butter is part water and oil is pure fat.
- Best bakes for the swap: olive oil cake, citrus and yoghurt cakes, chocolate cakes and brownies, muffins, focaccia and most breads.
- Flavour worry is mostly unfounded: in chocolate and spiced bakes the oil disappears; in citrus cakes a fruity oil is the point.
- Where butter still wins: laminated pastry, shortbread, and anything depending on creamed-butter aeration or solid fat at room temperature.
- Use an oil good enough to eat raw — baking softens but does not hide a stale, defective oil.
The Butter Swap: How the Conversion Works
Butter is only about 80% fat — the rest is water and milk solids — while olive oil is 100% fat. Swap them one-for-one and the bake turns greasy; the working rule is therefore three-quarters the amount: for every 100g of butter a recipe asks for, use roughly 75ml (about 5 tablespoons) of olive oil. For American measures, 1 cup of butter becomes ¾ cup of oil. If the batter seems dry — some recipes leaned on butter's water — a splash of milk or yoghurt restores the balance.
The method actually gets simpler. There is no softening, no creaming, no melted-and-cooled stage: oil pours straight in with the wet ingredients, which is why olive oil cakes are classic one-bowl, whisk-and-bake recipes. The trade-off is structural — creamed butter traps air that gives some cakes their lift, so oil suits recipes raised by baking powder, eggs, or yeast rather than by creaming. In practice that covers most of what home bakers make — and recipes written for oil, like the classic olive oil cake, need no conversion at all.
What Olive Oil Does to a Bake
The signature gift of oil in baking is moisture that lasts. Butter is solid at room temperature, so butter cakes firm up and dry out as they sit; oil stays liquid, so an olive oil cake cut on day three is nearly as tender as on day one. The crumb itself bakes softer and more open — "plush" is the word bakers reach for — because liquid fat coats flour proteins more thoroughly, limiting gluten development.
And the flavour? Gentler than the worriers fear, and often an asset. In chocolate cakes, brownies, and spiced bakes, the oil simply vanishes into richness. In citrus, almond, and yoghurt cakes, a fruity olive oil is not hiding at all — it is the signature, adding a green, faintly peppery depth that butter cannot offer. A robust early-harvest oil will speak up more; a softer late-harvest oil all but disappears. The only real rule: bake with an oil you would happily eat from a spoon, because heat mellows character but cannot repair staleness.
The Bakes That Love Olive Oil
Start where the tradition started: the olive oil cake itself — oil, eggs, sugar, flour, citrus zest — a Mediterranean classic that is moist for days and almost impossible to ruin. From there the swap spreads naturally: citrus and yoghurt cakes (lemon and olive oil is one of baking's great pairings), chocolate cakes and brownies (fudgier, deeper), muffins and quick breads (banana bread converts perfectly), and carrot or spice cakes, many of which were oil-based all along.
Then there is bread — olive oil's oldest baking partnership. Focaccia is as much about the oil as the flour: in the dough, slicking the pan, pooled in the dimples with rosemary and salt. Pizza dough, flatbreads, and enriched loaves all take olive oil happily. Where butter keeps its crown is the solid-fat structures: croissants and laminated pastry, shortbread's crisp snap, and buttercream — anywhere fat must stay solid or carry whipped air. Those aside, the oil bottle covers a remarkable share of the baking repertoire.
Why Sidr & Stone
Bake with an oil worth tasting — because the oven softens character but never creates it. Ours:
- Single-estate — one family-owned grove on the plains outside Marrakech, Morocco; no blending across origins.
- Rain-fed — no irrigation; the trees take what the season gives.
- Organically grown — no synthetic fertilisers, pesticides, or herbicides.
- Single harvest — a small, limited batch; once the season's pressing is gone, it is gone until next year.
- Cold-pressed within hours of harvest — flavour, aroma, and polyphenols preserved.
- Unfiltered extra virgin — minimally processed, and may show natural sediment.
- 100% natural — a single ingredient, nothing added.
- Dark glass with a gold label — protective packaging against light.
- Halal certified.
- 10% of profits to charity — Sidr & Stone's brand-wide commitment.
- Fulfilment in the UK, EU, and US.
We will not claim ours is the only oil to bake with — but a fresh, characterful extra virgin is exactly what a lemon olive oil cake or a Friday focaccia deserves, and that is precisely what our one small batch each season is.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use olive oil instead of butter in baking?
Yes, in most non-laminated bakes. Use about three-quarters the amount — 75ml of olive oil per 100g of butter — and expect a moister, softer crumb that keeps longer.
Can I use olive oil instead of vegetable oil in baking?
Yes, one-for-one — they behave identically in the oven. The only difference is flavour: olive oil brings a gentle fruitiness where vegetable oil brings nothing.
Will my cake taste of olive oil?
In chocolate, coffee, and spiced bakes — essentially no. In delicate citrus or vanilla bakes, a mild fruitiness comes through, which is exactly why lemon and olive oil cakes are classics. Choose a gentler oil if you want less presence.
Is extra virgin olive oil OK for baking, or should I use "light"?
Extra virgin is excellent in the oven — typical baking temperatures do not present a problem, and it brings flavour and polyphenols that refined "light" oil lacks. "Light" olive oil is simply refined and near-flavourless, not lower in calories.
What is the butter-to-olive-oil conversion for baking?
Roughly 3:4 — use three-quarters of the butter weight as oil. 100g butter → 75ml oil; 1 cup butter → ¾ cup oil; 1 tablespoon butter → about 2¼ teaspoons oil.
Why are olive oil cakes so moist?
Because oil is liquid at room temperature and 100% fat, it keeps the crumb tender for days where butter firms up and dries out — the signature advantage of oil-based bakes.
What can't I make with olive oil instead of butter?
Anything that depends on solid fat: croissants and puff pastry, shortbread, buttercream, and cakes leavened mainly by creaming butter and sugar. For those, butter remains the right tool.
Is olive oil a medicine?
No. Olive oil is a food, not a medicine. It has a long traditional history — including being honoured in the Prophetic Sunnah — and a substantial body of modern research, particularly around polyphenols, cardiovascular health, and the Mediterranean diet pattern. It can be a worthwhile part of a healthy routine, but it does not cure diseases and is not a substitute for medical care. Be cautious of any olive oil marketed with specific disease-cure claims.
Final Thoughts
Baking with olive oil is not a compromise or a health hack — it is a tradition with better staying power than the butter habit it quietly replaces. The conversion is one line of arithmetic, the method is simpler than creaming, and the result — that plush, lasting crumb — is an upgrade most eaters notice before they can name it. Start with an olive oil cake, graduate to brownies and focaccia, and keep butter for the pastries that truly need it.
The only ingredient that matters is the one this whole blog keeps returning to: a fresh, honest oil. Bake with something you would proudly pour over bread, and every cake inherits its character.
Our cold-pressed organic Marrakech olive oil — single-estate, rain-fed, and pressed within hours of harvest — is available to pre-order now, with fulfilment in the UK, EU, and US.
Pre-Order Sidr & Stone Organic Marrakech Olive Oil — Limited First Harvest →
Disclaimer: This article shares general cooking information at the time of writing; recipes and individual needs vary. Olive oil is a food, not a medicine, and is not a substitute for medical treatment of any condition. For any health concern or personal dietary guidance, consult a qualified medical professional.
