This savory and sweet Red Miso Olive Oil Cake with Red Miso Caramel Drizzle perfectly highlights an unexpected, but delicious, ingredient in the cake: MISO!
Many people don’t expect to find miso in desserts or sweets, but it’s one of my favorite ingredients to use (check out my Miso Hot Chocolate & Miso Butterscotch Cookies recipes). If you love salted sweets like salted dark chocolate or salted caramel, you would love miso in desserts. It adds umami and richness along with a slight saltiness that allows the sweet parts of the dish to shine even more.
What is red miso?
Miso is one of Japan’s most popular and common condiments. It is a fermented soybean paste that is used in everything from miso soup to marinades to salad dressing. It’s salty, earthy, a little funky and full of so much umami which is why it’s so widely loved and used. Miso is also incredibly healthy and is great for your digestion.
Red miso is a type of miso that typically has a longer fermentation period. It’s a beautiful dark reddish brown color and has a stronger, funkier flavor. While I typically use white miso for baking as it’s lighter and sweeter, red miso is fun to use to add even more of an unexpected richness and to really highlight the salty/sweet combo.
Red miso can be purchased at Japanese markets and most Asian markets as well as online.
May Creator Feature: Aliya Rose Waldman
Aliya is a photographer, recipe developer, and twitch streamer currently splitting her time between STL and NYC. I always joke that she is my East Coast counterpart since we basically do the same type of work (photography & social media management in the food & commercial industries) and we both absolutely love cooking (although she is a significantly better baker than I). Aliya never fails to come up with creative and fun recipes, like this Red Miso Olive Oil Cake! She often streams on Twitch as she creates new recipes and this cake recipe was a winged experiment on one of her past streams. Seriously so much fun to watch her work and create.
While Aliya cooks all sorts of cuisines, I always admired her modern (or sometimes traditional) Japanese recipes she shares. Even if they are more creative, she always leaves the dishes feeling and tasting truly Japanese, which I love and appreciate. I seriously want to eat everything she makes so make sure to see all of her lovely creations on social media.
Check Aliya out on Instagram or watch her stream on Twitch!
If you’re curious about the shape of Aliya’s cake, she used this Nordic Ware bundt pan. Head down to the Shop This Post section to see similar beautiful bundt pans.
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Red Miso Olive Oil Cake / 赤味噌オリーブオイルケーキ
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 3 tbsp red miso paste
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
Miso Caramel Sauce
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 tbsp red miso paste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease bundt pan (I use flour baking spray and it works like a charm!) and set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugars, baking soda, and ginger until completely combined.
- In a saucepan over medium low heat, melt and stir together water, miso pate, oil, and butter. Once fully combined, let cool for 3 minutes, add to dry mixture and mix.
- Add in buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla. Stir to combine. Once fully homogenized, pour into your prepared cake pan and bake for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cake rest and cool for 25 minutes and then remove from pan.
Miso Caramel Sauce
- In a saucepan over medium high heat, melt butter and brown sugar until a thick caramel consistency has been reached and butter no longer floats to the top.
- Whisk in miso paste, remove from heat, and transfer to jar or glass measuring cup until cooled.
- Once cake has cooled, drizzle caramel sauce on top.
Notes
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