Vanilla Greek Yogurt & Olive Oil Pound Cake

ByKim Lange
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Craving a delicious pound cake but want something a little lighter? This Vanilla Greek Yogurt & Olive Oil Pound Cake is the perfect balance of cozy, classic, and better‑for‑you. It’s incredibly moist, tender, and full of warm vanilla flavor — all thanks to creamy Greek yogurt and heart‑healthy olive oil. A simple, modern twist on the traditional pound cake that still tastes every bit as dreamy and indulgent.

Key Takeaways

  • Lightened‑up pound cake made with Greek yogurt + olive oil
  • Moist, tender crumb with warm vanilla flavor
  • Easy substitutions (butter, canola, avocado oil)
  • Works as a loaf, bundt, or layer cake
  • Stores beautifully and freezes well

More yummy bread ideas? Check out these 20 Dessert Recipes Using Greek Yogurt, this Banana Pound Cake & Milk Chocolate Glaze and this Pumpkin Walnut Bread!

Vanilla Greek Yogurt & Olive Oil Pound Cake

Why You’ll Love This Pound Cake

This Vanilla Greek Yogurt & Olive Oil Pound Cake is the perfect blend of classic comfort and modern, better‑for‑you baking. It’s incredibly moist, tender, and full of warm vanilla flavor thanks to creamy Greek yogurt and a splash of good extra‑virgin olive oil. The yogurt keeps the crumb soft and delicate, while the olive oil adds a subtle fruity richness that makes every bite feel extra special.

Where Did Pound Cake Originate From?

Pound cake traces its roots back to 18th‑century Europe, where the recipe was as straightforward as it gets: one pound each of flour, sugar, butter, and eggs. No written recipes, no measuring cups — just equal parts of the “fab four” mixed together to create a dense, rich, incredibly indulgent cake.

Because early pound cakes didn’t use leaveners like baking powder or baking soda, all the lift came from the eggs. The result was a heavy, buttery, high‑calorie loaf that was often served in thick slices with tea. Over time, bakers began adapting the formula, creating lighter, softer versions — like this Greek yogurt and olive oil twist — while still honoring the classic flavor we all love.

Vanilla Greek Yogurt & Olive Oil Pound Cake

What Makes This Greek Yogurt Pound Cake So Irresistible? 

This pound cake is everything you love about a classic loaf — moist, tender, and full of warm vanilla flavor — but with a lighter, modern twist. The vanilla Greek yogurt adds incredible moisture and a subtle tang that keeps the crumb soft and delicate, while the extra‑virgin olive oil brings a gentle, fruity richness that blends beautifully with the vanilla. Together, they create that dreamy aroma and melt‑in‑your‑mouth texture that makes this loaf truly irresistible.

We used Oikos® Triple Zero Vanilla Greek Yogurt for its no added sugar, no artificial sweeteners, zero fat, and 15g of protein per cup — but feel free to use any vanilla Greek yogurt you love. For an extra boost of flavor, a touch of vanilla bean paste adds those gorgeous flecks and that bakery‑style depth you can’t help but swoon over.

Using a good‑quality extra‑virgin olive oil is key. It keeps the cake moist without weighing it down and adds heart‑healthy monounsaturated fats. Just avoid low‑quality oils, which can leave a strong aftertaste.

The result? A lightened‑up pound cake that still tastes rich, cozy, and completely delicious — the kind of loaf you’ll want to bake again and again.

Vanilla Greek Yogurt & Olive Oil Pound Cake

Ingredients You Need

Vanilla Greek Yogurt & Olive Oil Pound Cake Recipe

  • all-purpose flour, I used Bob’s Red Mill
  • salt
  • baking soda
  • baking powder
  • vanilla or plain non-fat Greek yogurt (I used Dannon® Oikos® Triple Zero Greek Yogurt – Vanilla)
  • extra virgin olive oil, or any oil of choice or melted butter, cooled
  • granulated sugar
  • eggs
  • pure vanilla extract, I use Nielsen-Massey
  • vanilla bean paste, I use Nielsen-Massey

Why Is This Pound Cake Healthier? 

This Vanilla Greek Yogurt & Olive Oil Pound Cake gets its “healthier” twist from a few smart ingredient swaps that lighten things up without losing that classic pound‑cake taste and texture.

  • Greek Yogurt (non‑fat or low‑fat) Adds moisture, protein, and a subtle tang while replacing some of the fat you’d normally get from butter. It keeps the crumb tender without making the cake heavy.
  • Extra‑Virgin Olive Oil Instead of using a full cup of butter, olive oil brings heart‑healthy monounsaturated fats and keeps the cake incredibly moist. It also blends beautifully with vanilla.
  • Less Butter / Optional Butter Swap If you choose the olive oil version, you’re naturally reducing saturated fat while keeping all the richness.
  • Simple, wholesome ingredients Flour, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and leaveners — nothing complicated or artificial. Just classic pantry staples with a modern, better‑for‑you twist.
  • Lower in saturated fat + higher in protein Thanks to the Greek yogurt and olive oil combo, this loaf has more protein and less saturated fat than a traditional pound cake made with a full pound of butter.

The result? A moist, tender, vanilla‑forward pound cake that feels indulgent but is secretly lightened up in all the right ways.

Vanilla Greek Yogurt & Olive Oil Pound Cake

How to Make Vanilla Greek Yogurt & Olive Oil Pound Cake

  1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Generously spray a 9×5 inch loaf pan with nonstick spray.  (I like to line my loaf pan with parchment paper for easy removal.)
  2. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder, set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, beat together using a whisk, the Greek yogurt, sugar and olive oil together, then add the eggs one a time, whisking in each egg one at a time. Stir in the vanilla extract and/or vanilla bean paste.
  4. When the mixture is well blended, gently whisk in the flour mixture.
  5. Pour batter it into the pan and smooth the top.
  6. Bake the cake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until it is golden and starts to come away from the sides of the pan; a knife inserted into the center of the cake will come out clean or touching the top of the cake to make sure it’s done. If your fingerprint leaves an indentation, it needs to bake more.  You can also use a toothpick and if it comes out clean with no batter a just a few random crumbs, you’re good to go.
  7. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then run a knife between the cake and the sides of the pan.

Olive Oil Substitution

If you’re not into using olive oil, you can absolutely swap in melted butter (instructions are in the recipe card below). But if you’ve never baked with olive oil in a pound cake, I highly recommend giving it a try — it keeps the crumb incredibly moist and adds a subtle, fruity richness that pairs beautifully with vanilla.

You can also substitute canola, vegetable, or avocado oil if that’s what you have on hand. No matter which option you choose, this healthier pound cake will still turn out soft, tender, and delicious.

Storing & Freezing Vanilla Yogurt & Olive Oil Pound Cake

This pound cake stores beautifully, making it perfect for meal prep, gifting, or snacking all week long.

  • Room temperature: up to 4 days, wrapped tightly
  • Refrigerator: up to 1 week
  • Freezer: up to 2 months — wrap in plastic wrap, then foil for best freshness

To serve, thaw slices at room temperature or warm gently in the microwave for that fresh‑baked vibe.

More Variations

This Vanilla Greek Yogurt & Olive Oil Pound Cake is amazing on its own, but it’s also incredibly versatile. Try it:

  • With fresh fruit, whipped cream, or a dusting of powdered sugar
  • Drizzled with vanilla glaze, chocolate sauce, or caramel
  • Layered into trifles, parfaits, or ice‑cream sundaes
  • Sliced and grilled French‑toast style
  • As a single cake layer topped with frosting
  • Doubled and baked as a bundt cake

For a bright citrus twist, swap the vanilla for orange zest + orange juice or lemon zest + lemon juice — it’s a total flavor explosion.

Serving Suggestions 

Serve your pound cake with:

  • Fresh berries
  • Whipped cream
  • Vanilla glaze
  • Powdered sugar
  • Chocolate or caramel drizzle
  • Toasted slices with butter
  • Ice cream
  • Layered parfaits or trifles

Troubleshooting

  • Cake too dense? You may have overmixed the batter or used expired leaveners.
  • Dry texture? It was likely overbaked — check 5 minutes early next time.
  • Sinking center? The oven wasn’t fully preheated or the batter sat too long before baking.
  • Oily taste? Use a mild, high‑quality extra‑virgin olive oil.

FAQs 

Can I substitute the olive oil?

Yes — use melted butter, canola, vegetable, or avocado oil.

What yogurt works best?

Any vanilla Greek yogurt. Oikos® Triple Zero is our favorite.

Can I make this ahead?

Yes — it stays moist for days and tastes even better the next day.

Can I freeze slices?

Absolutely. Freeze individually for easy grab‑and‑go treats.

Can I make this into a bundt cake?

Yes — double the recipe and bake in a bundt pan.

Can I add other flavors?

Try lemon, orange, almond extract, or even a swirl of jam.

What can I serve with it?

Berries, whipped cream, powdered sugar, chocolate drizzle, or toasted slices.

Vanilla Greek Yogurt & Olive Oil Pound Cake

This Vanilla Greek Yogurt & Olive Oil Pound Cake is the perfect blend of cozy comfort and better‑for‑you baking — moist, tender, and full of warm vanilla goodness. Whether you enjoy it plain, dressed up with toppings, or transformed into a bundt or trifle, it’s a loaf you’ll want to bake again and again. Happy baking and enjoy every delicious slice!

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Love Greek Yogurt Healthier Recipes?

 

Vanilla Greek Yogurt & Olive Oil Pound Cake

Vanilla Greek Yogurt & Olive Oil Pound Cake

Kim Lange
Love pound cake?  Would you like to indulge, but would like to find a healthier version? How about giving this Vanilla Greek Yogurt & Olive Oil Pound Cake a try?  It's lightened up and delicious!!!
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Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 48 minutes
Course Breakfast, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American
Servings 8 Servings
Calories

Ingredients
  

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350ºF. Generously spray a 9x5 inch loaf pan with nonstick spray. (I like to line my loaf pan with parchment paper for easy removal.)
  • In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder, set aside.
  • In a large bowl, beat together using a whisk, the Greek yogurt, sugar and olive oil together, then add the eggs one a time, whisking in each egg one at a time. Stir in the vanilla extract and/or vanilla bean paste.
  • When the mixture is well blended, gently whisk in the dry ingredients.
  • Pour and scrape the cake batter it into the pan and smooth the top.
  • Bake the cake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until it is golden and starts to come away from the sides of the pan; a knife inserted into the center of the cake will come out clean or touching the top of the cake to make sure it's done. If your fingerprint leaves an indentation, it needs to bake more
  • Cool on a rack for 5 minutes, then run a knife between the cake and the sides of the pan.

Notes

Storing: You can keep the cake at room temperature for at least 4 days or freeze it for up to 2 months
 
Keyword Greek yogurt, olive oil, pound cake
Tried This Recipe?Let us know how it was by commenting below!

Hi! I'm Kim! As you may know, I'm cookie, brownie and chocolate obsessed! You'll find hundreds of decadent and healthy dessert recipes to choose from here! So, let's bake something easy and never forget the chocolate!

70 Comments

  1. Hi Janet! You can try and add 2–3 tablespoons lemon zest, 3 tablespoons lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon lemon extract to the wet ingredients, omit the vanilla bean paste, optionally keep 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and bake as directed. Let us know how it turns out! 🙂

  4. I followed the recipe as close as I could, had to leave out vanilla bean paste because I didn’t have that on hand. Also, I used my homemade plain yogurt. With my oven, the cake baked for about 1 hour. Cake came out perfectly moist, light, with a slightly crisp outside crust. Next time, I’ll cut the sugar down to one cup. This is a great base recipe, in which I’ll be excited to try different flavor variations in the future.

  7. Hi Barbara, I know you would need less almond flour, (1 cup flour = 3/4 cup almond flour ratio measurement) but as far as the rest, I would say just try it and see how it works for you and I would probably use 2 teaspoons of baking powder, unless you have something else you would want to substitute. Not sure about the honey, texture-se, but you could use monkfruit sugar. Baking time less, but for more info maybe refer to Can You Use Almond Flour in Place of Regular Flour? Hope this helps some?

  8. Can i substitue almond flour (for regular flour) and honey (instead of sugar)? Would I have to increase the baking powder due to the substitutes?

  10. Cake turned out just like regular pound cake! Light and golden, not at all heavy. Flavor was excellent and perfect texture. So happy to find this recipe! Thanks!!!
    Note: I added only 2/3 cup sugar, used 1 cup all-purpose, 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour because of dietary restrictions. Also used sea salt and 1 tsp. Rum flavoring as another comment suggested.

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  15. Thank you so much for this great recipe! I loved how you could use oil instead of butter. I just made the cake this afternoon and already had a big slice. It was delicious, very moist. I am curious, if I wanted to give it a lemon flavor, how much lemon zest and lemon juice could be used? Also, would the amount of baking soda and baking powder need to be changed?

  16. Amazing! Great to hear Splenda worked. Have you ever tried Lankanto? I always have great results with it and love telling people about it. Thank you so much for trying it and letting others know your experience Lauren! xo

  17. I turned this sugar free by using Splenda instead of regular sugar. It turned out great! The yogurt and olive oil really helped cover up the tang of Splenda in baked goods. Highly recommend!!

  18. I haven’t tried it, but it may pick up some of the applesauce flavor, but I think it would be fine. You could also try Bob’s egg replacer or flax eggs as well. If you try it, let us know! Thank you Leslie!

  19. Hi Kim:

    I noticed that you also make vegan versions of pound cake. Could I get away with substituting unsweetened applesauce for the eggs in this recipe without losing the flavor?

    Thanks.
    Leslie
    @sundayswithnorah

  21. I can’t bake but I tried this and it was fantastic. I love the use of olive oil and yogurt. I want to make a chocolate version of this. Do I just need to add cocoa powder? (How much?)

  23. Absolutely delicious! I rarely comment on food blogs but I really liked this recipe.

  24. Pingback: Yogurt Pound Cake | The Foodies' Kitchen

  27. I want to make this tomorrow but I will use butter instead of olive oil. Why are the measurements for olive oil and butter different? 1/2 cup olive oil but only 1/4 cup butter? Is this correct?

  30. Holy smokes this was fantastic! I almost never comment on food blogs but I had to tip my hat off to you. My hubby was singing my praises all night. The Cake was almost gone in one sitting lol.

  34. I would like to make this cake. It looks delicious. Can I add chocolate morsels? Would 1/2 cup be enough?

  36. I have full fat Greek yogurt. Should i still use the olive oil as well? The same amounts? Thanks!

  37. I’m so happy you tried it Maret and enjoyed it with the olive oil! Thank you for sharing your experience and what brand you used for others. You are so kind!!xo

  38. Delicious! I’ve been missing pound cake since I decided my recipes were too unhealthy to make! And I’ve been wanting to try baked goods with olive oil, but couldn’t get up the nerve. The sound of this “healthy” pound cake finally made me take the plunge. So glad I did. It is as you described, moist with a little tang. I don’t have vanilla paste, so I added the vanilla extract. For those who are wondering on a brand of olive oil, I used California Olive Ranch (Destination Series) Extra Virgin olive oil.

  40. I think it may have needed to bake more Jim. Applesauce is heavier so I would try to bake it 5-8 more minutes and I use fingertip and lightly touch the top of the bread to check for doneness. If it stays indented it’s not done. Glad it still tasted great though! Thanks so much for trying it! xo

  41. I tried this recipe but substituted Apple Sauce for the sugar. It looked great when I pulled it out of the oven but then lost all of its rise and collapsed while cooling, what did I do wrong? PS: It still tasted great!

  42. Tried this recipe and it turned out great! Very moist. I don’t eat too sweet so I halved the sugar content and it turned out great! I also added 1 tablespoon of rum to enhance the flavor. Thanks!

  44. I just made this and served it with whipped cream and berries. Delicious!
    I reduced the sugar to 1 cup and it’s plenty sweet.

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  46. You could, but I would double the recipe for a 10 inch bundt pan. Otherwise the cake won’t be very tall and of course the time would vary. Hope that helps?

  48. Pingback: Orange Cream Glazed Pound Cakes

  54. I just made this last night. It smelled awesome while baking. It was so moist and full of flavor.

  60. I have to say, this looks like the perfect cake to eat at breakfast with a warm coffee. I love having leftover cake in the mornings, it just makes my day!. It really looks awesome. Great job!

  64. I love pound cake and this looks delicious, Kim! Greek Yogurt is not only more healthy, but I love the great moisture and texture it adds to baked goods! Thanks for the recipe, Kim!

  67. I love the lightened version and I actually think it tastes better than the full fat version, but that’s just me! Tea time for sure would be good as well! Thank you Deepika! xo

  69. I love pound cakes!! They are so rich and decadent! Perfect as a teatime treat! But I don’t make them often only because they are so high on sugar and butter! I would love to try this lightened version with olive oil! Looks lovely!

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