Blood Orange Upside-Down Cake

Blood Orange Upside-Down Cake

I found blood oranges, when I went shopping today. I was on point in getting ingredients for a good and healthy dinner, and then I came across the blood oranges. And I'm sure they screamed "buy me" and "lets bake a cake" at me. So what is a girl to do?

For the longest time I have been wanting to make an almond blood orange cake, so today was the day.

Makes one 9-inch cake.

Ingredients:

Oranges:

• 3 small blood oranges, sliced thinly
• 100 g sugar
• 120 ml water

Cake:

• 200 g butter, room temperature, salted
• 200 g sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
• 200 g almond flour
• 50 g all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 100 g creme fraiche or sour cream

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325℉ (160℃). Line a 9-inch springform with parchment paper, and set aside.

Slice the oranges thinly with a sharp knife or on a mandolin. Heat water and sugar in a saucepan. When the sugar is dissolved place the orange slices in the syrup, and let them simmer for about 10-15 minutes until the peels get semi translucent. Remove the slices with a slotted spoon. Boil the syrup and reduce it to half. Let it cool.

Pour half the syrup in the prepared springform, and brush the parchment paper sides with the syrup. Place the orange slices in the springform, arranging them in a decorative manner. Set aside. Reserve the rest of the syrup to brush over the cake once baked.

Cake:

Cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in one egg at a time. Stir in vanilla, flour, baking powder and creme fraiche, mix until just combined. Gently spoon the cake batter into the springform, trying not to break up the placement of the orange slices. 

Bake the cake for about 1 hour, until a cake tester comes out clean. 

Let the cake cool in the springform for 10 minutes. Carefully turn the cake out onto a cake stand. Gently remove the parchment paper. Brush the cake with the remainder of the syrup.

Serve the cake with a dollop of cream fraiche or whipped cream.

Enjoy!

Almond Lemon Cake

Almond Lemon Cake

Some days you just feel like baking a cake. I was inspired by an almond cake by David Lebovitz and a normal Danish mazarin cake. To  give the cake some more texture, I used almond flour, and added some lemon zest for more flavor.

The cake was really good and I loved the texture. This cake will pair well with fresh berries and crème fraiche. It turned out that this cake is dog approved. My food driven yellow lab stole the rest of the cake, about ¾ of the cake, from the kitchen counter. It was gone in seconds. 

Serves 12 people or 1 hungry dog

Ingredients:

• 175 g butter, room temperature
• 115 g honey
• 210 g sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla paste or the seeds from ½ vanilla bean pod
• 5 eggs, room temperature
• 110 g almond flour
• 175 g all-purpose flour
• 1½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 lemon, the zest of
• 3 tablespoons sliced almond 
• 1 tablespoon confectionary sugar, for dusting

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 320℉ (160℃). Spray a 9-inch (22 cm) springform. Place a piece of parchment paper in the bottom and spray this too. Sprinkle the springform with flour, and discard the excess. Set aside.

Cream the butter with honey, sugar and vanilla, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, and mix just until fully incorporated. 

Mix together all-purpose flour, almond flour, baking powder and lemon zest. Fold the dry ingredients in the butter/egg mixture. 

Pour the batter in the prepared pan, and sprinkle the sliced almonds on top. Bake the cake covered with aluminum foil for 40 minutes. Remove the aluminum foil and bake for another 20-25 minutes.

Let the cake cool completely before removing from the pan. Sprinkle with confectionary sugar.

Enjoy!