Pumpkin Chia Olive Oil Cake

Until this moment I had never made an olive oil cake at home. I had no idea how easy it could be. But now, I’m a champion, and I think you can be too.

This cake is SO EASY to make, and it’s packed with superfoods like chia seeds. It’s even got a delicious, pure olive oil taste (thanks to Pompeian Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil). I naturally sweetened it with honey, and when it’s topped with yogurt, honey and pepitas – it’s practically a health food.

It sorta reminds me of my Flourless Coconut & Quinoa Cake in the way that they’re both perfect cakes without icing or any fixings at all. It’s a sweet, carb-filled treat for the fall and winter months.

This would be SO GOOD for Thanksgiving or just as a sweet treat to celebrate the start of fall. I think you’re gonna love it as much as I do.

 In 2017, I’m partnering with Pompeian to bring you the latest recipes that are currently #TrendingInTheKitchen with this year’s trendy ingredients and their olive oils and vinegars. Thank you for supporting the partnerships that allow Brewing Happiness to grow and exist. xoxo.

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Pumpkin Chia Olive Oil Cake

Fall finally has the PERFECT cake! This Pumpkin Chia Olive Oil Cake is naturally sweetened, rich with olive oil flavor, and packed with superfoods! 

Course Dessert, Sweet Thangs

Cuisine American

Servings 1 cake

Author Brewing Happiness

Ingredients

• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 2/3 cup Pompeian Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2/3 cup honey
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Top with:

• plain yogurt
• honey
• pepitas

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together your pumpkin puree, Pompeian Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, honey and chia seeds until smooth and combined.

3. Add in your eggs one at a time, whisking in between until each is well combined. 

4. Add in your all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir just until combined, not until smooth. Don't overmix! 

5. Grease a circular baking pan with more olive oil. Pour your batter into the baking pan. 

6. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Let sit for at least 10 minutes before serving.

7. Slice and top with yogurt, honey and pepitas.

8. EAT UP.

Recipe Notes

Recipe adapted from The Kitchen. 

Last week I made the announcement that I am moving to New York City to chase my crazy, millennial dreams. This week I moved in with my parents until that happens. After the wave of gratefulness to have a place to go washed over me and calmed, I was left with a hollow feeling of doubt. Am I doing this right? How the hell did I get here? What does it mean to be 25 and waking up in your childhood bedroom?

I am a steady person, sturdy even. If you ask my friends they’ll tell you that’s something they like about me. I pride myself on it. I define myself by my “wisdom beyond my age” and live my life by it. So it feels unnatural to be in this unsteady place.

It’s not New York that scares me. That’s actually the piece I feel most excited, most sure of. It’s the life part that I’ve been feeling incredibly unsure of. I have friends from high school who are married with two kids, friends who are going back to school for their masters, and friends who are putting down payments on homes. Here I am – single, with a job I made up, eating cake for lunch, and nothing holding me anywhere.

It’s beautiful.

And terrifying.

I don’t even want the family, degree or home. I just find myself wondering if I *should* want them. I start to panic that I’m setting myself up for a life of endless wandering. (Would that be a bad thing? I don’t know. Probably not.) But the endless pull between, “You’re young – you have so much time to make mistakes!” and “Your 30s are not the new 20s, you need to start setting up the rest of your life now.” is exhausting and confusing and endlessly playing in my head.

It’s weeks like this, in the middle of my mental panic, that I end up making a Pumpkin Chia Olive Oil Cake perfectly on the first try. And with it’s rich Pompeian Olive Oil flavor, and light sweetness I am brought back to myself.  Just like that, I’m steady again. Sturdy even.

Because in the midst of all of this upheaval – I have my kitchen. I have small day to day successes that tell me I’m on the right path. So I keep walking on that path. I keep making food, because it feels more right than anything I’ve ever done. I keep chasing cities because they feel like home. I keep wandering, because it’s in my nature.

Life feels like that to me sometimes. An endless back an forth. I’m alone. No you’re not. You’re doing it all wrong. No you’re not. You need all the answers. No you don’t. 

So why tell you all of this? Why share my inner struggle on here? Well, I’m exhausted of the “health guru” culture and attitude. I am a human. I have questions. I have *some* answers (mostly about food), but not all. I am not perfect.

I am wandering. I am wondering.

And I think that’s okay. I want the internet to be filled with less faux-goddess women with “all the right answers” and more humans cut open in all their bare vulnerability. If that is what I want from the world, then I must first sacrifice myself.

So here I am. Bare. Human. Questioning.

I am unsteady. I am sturdy. I can hold both of those things inside myself at once. I can have my olive oil cake and eat it too. And I can (and will) keep on adventuring through it all. Thanks for adventuring with me. xo.