This upside down blood orange blossom and pomegranate cake is unbelievably moist and delicious – serve slices with a dollop of Greek yoghurt on the side for a fabulous, effortless pudding.
I have such a thing for blood oranges at the moment. I’ve been eating them in salads, finding excuses to bake with them and eating them just as they are.
I’ve tried a few blood orange cakes over the years, such as this fabulous blood orange olive oil cake, but the one I’m sharing with you today is my new favourite. The honey soaked orange slices that adorn the top of the cake look so beautiful it is a cake worthy of the name showstopper but with none of the hard work.
It’s quite similar to a Nigella Lawson cake I used to make a few years ago in that a whole cooked orange is pureed and added to the cake batter. This method produces a really moist, flavourful cake with an unusual but lovely texture.
Want to see more recipes that use blood oranges?
Mini baked vanilla donuts with blood orange glaze
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Blood orange blossom and pomegranate cake
Adapted from "Blood orange blossom and pomegranate cake" by BBC Good Food Magazine February 2015, this cake is made incredibly moist and delicious by adding a whole cooked orange to the batter.
Ingredients
- 3 blood oranges
- 250g soft butter
- 50g honey plus 2 tbsp
- 300g caster sugar
- 200g Self raising flour
- 100g ground almonds
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 4 large eggs, beaten
- 1 tbsp orange blossom water
- 150g Greek yoghurt
- 1 small pomegranate
- FOR THE SYRUP:
- 100g caster sugar
- Juice of one blood orange
- 1tsp orange blossom water
Instructions
- Place one of the oranges in a pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 40 minutes or until the orange is really soft.
- Remove from the oven and once it has cooled a little, cut in half and remove the seeds.
- Preheat the oven to 180C/160F/350Fan/Gas mark 4.
- Grease a deep 22cm round springform cake tin with butter.
- Drizzle 2 tbsp of honey over the base of the tin, then slice the remaining two oranges quite thinly and arrange in the tin.
- Puree the cooked orange in a food processor.
- Beat together the soft butter, sugar, flour, almonds, baking powder, eggs, 1 tbsp orange blossom water and Greek yoghurt until the batter is smooth.
- Stir in the pureed orange and pour the orange flecked batter into the tin, being careful not to dislodge the orange slices.
- Bake for 55-60 minutes until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool the cake in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn upside down on a plate.
- For the syrup, place the caster sugar, orange juice and orange blossom water in a small pan. Slowly bring to the boil, turn down the heat and allow the mixture to bubble for a few minutes until it becomes syrupy.
- Pour a little of this syrup over the cake but save the rest for serving later with Greek Yoghurt or vanilla ice cream. Generously sprinkle the pomegranate seeds all over the cake.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 522Total Fat: 28gSaturated Fat: 14gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 129mgSodium: 540mgCarbohydrates: 62gFiber: 4gSugar: 43gProtein: 8g
Calories and nutritional information are provided by a third party application and should be viewed as indicative figures only.
looks delicious!! I bought a few (very pricey!!!) oranges at my store today, I think this is how I am going to use them!
look at shiny and delectable this cake is! I need to hunt down some blood oranges, stat π
Nickki this looks so beautiful!!! π
Thanks Ashley! π
It’s so worth tracking them down to make this cake! π
Thanks Amy π
Definitely saving this recipe for a future tea party! Goodness, that looks tasty.
Thanks – it really is a lovely cake!
So yummmy!!! I’ll have to do it!
Thanks Ivette π
So yummy, I like it!
Thanks π