This is a fantastic recipe that showcases blood oranges. The beautiful citrus is featured in the cake, syrup, zest and as a topping. This gorgeous cake will definitely impress!
I am a bad foodie. I have heard such great things about blood oranges but never bought any. Maybe it was the odd name that kept me away, or maybe I just didn’t look hard enough in the grocery store.Whatever the reason, I am done making excuses now. I finally bought some blood oranges and made something with them.
I wanted my first recipe to use most of the fruit so I didn’t have to waste any of it. Let’s be clear – these beauties aren’t cheap. I think my grocery store was selling them for $1+ a piece, and imagine my disappointment when I cut into one and realized that it wasn’t actually a blood orange… it was a regular orange instead! This loaf cake features blood orange juice and zest and also contains blood orange juice in the syrup and glaze as well. Oh, and it’s topped with candied blood orange slices. How’s that for using blood oranges?
This cake is nothing short of delightful. The cake is extremely moist and flavorful (especially since it is infused with the blood orange syrup), and the glaze gives it an extra pop of sweetness. And the candied blood oranges take this to a whole new level.
I actually had to make this cake twice before I photographed it. I had a bunch of baking errors in the first batch. If you’re prone to baking mistakes, listen up so you don’t fall into the same traps that I did and end up with an ugly (but tasty) cake. First of all, make sure you allow the cake to cool for 15 minutes before removing it from the pan. I was impatient and my cake fell apart. I also used a new loaf pan (a non-silicone one) and that was a big fail. The cake stuck to my pan, so I had a hot mess on my hands.
Second, when you are candying the orange slices, don’t leave them in the pan after they’re done (after 20 minutes). Use some tongs to pick them up and place them on a wire rack to dry. If you don’t, the orange slices will harden in your saucepan, and you will have a heck of a time trying to get the orange slices off the pan. I hurt my fingers pretty badly when I tried to pry the orange slices off. Ouch.
I altered the directions below to make sure you don’t make the same mistakes I did. If you follow them closely, you should come out with a gorgeous loaf cake. I am pretty ecstatic that my second attempt was much more successful and more photogenic than the first. I should have taken a picture of that ugly cake, but I ate it instead.
P.S. I normally don’t eat a lot of the desserts I make, but I practically ate the entire two loaves on my own!
Please visit Mandy’s Recipe Box for the recipe!
Yield: One 9″x5″ loaf (about 10-12 servings)
Source: Barely adapted from Annie’s Eats
