“I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.”
– Laura Ingalls Wilder
This cake will make you smile and will bring a ray of sunshine to your kitchen. It’s a lovely and moist cake and its beauty lies in its simplicity and flavour combination. Blood oranges with their complex sweetness and a slight bitter after taste and olive oil for a wondefully tender crumb and depth of flavour. Delicious! The best part is that it is super easy to make, and will take you less than 90 minutes from start to finish!
Blood oranges are definitely worth hunting for during their relatively short season. I love how innocent and inconspicuous they look from the outside. However, the moment you bite into them they reveal their sensual, blood-like red colour. If you can’t get hold of blood oranges, regular medium size oranges could be used, too. Also, since you’ll be eating the whole fruit and its zest, try to get the organic ones if possible.
Adapted from Melissa Clark’s Blood Orange and Olive Oil Cake, NYT Cooking.
| Prep Time | 20 minutes |
| Cook Time | 55-60 minutes |
| Servings |
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- 2 blood oranges or any other medium size oranges
- zest from 3 oranges
- 130 g caster sugar
- 118 ml buttermilk or plain yoghurt
- 3 medium eggs
- 100 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 230 g all purpose flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- butter for greasing pan
Ingredients
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- Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F). Grease a 23 x 13cm loaf pan (9 x 5-inch). Grate zest from 3 oranges and place in a bowl with sugar. Using your fingers, rub ingredients together until orange zest is evenly distributed in sugar.
- Supreme two oranges, cutting away peel and pith. Slice them into smaller pieces and add them to the bowl with sugar.
- Pour buttermilk or yogurt and use electric mixer to mix everything together. Whisk in eggs.
- In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gently whisk dry ingredients into wet ones. Switch to a spatula and fold in olive oil a little at a time. Scrape batter into pan and smooth top.
- Bake cake for about 55-60 minutes, or until it is golden and a knife inserted into center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 5 minutes, then unmold and cool to room temperature right-side up. Serve with whipped cream and honey-blood orange compote, if desired.*
* To make a honey-blood orange compote, supreme 2 more oranges and cut them into smaller pieces. Drizzle in 1 teaspoon of honey. Let sit for 5 minutes, then stir gently.
If you want to decorate the top of the cake with orange slices and make sure they don't sink, do so quickly 15 minutes or so into baking. Please exercise caution when doing this.
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