Upside-down blood orange and almond flour cake
An upside-down blood orange cake for the 7th live collaboration with Still Here Still Life, using seasonal“Tarocco” oranges from Italy. Their amazing crimson colour and their delicious, almost berry-like sweetness comes from the anthocyanins/red pigment in the fruit which develops through the fluctuating changes in temperature, with the coldest winters producing the best crop. The oranges are grown in the summer and mature in the Autumn before their harvest in December and January. These beautiful citrus fruits work really well in this cake, almost like a marmalade topping. I bought these from a local farm shop here in our town called Aarstiderne, who grow and sell fresh produce and also run a great growing programme for schools in the spring and summer months.
Thank you all for joining us for a true family affair - with co-star baker Michael McCormick, cameraman Nikolaj McCormick, kitchen manager Mikala McCormick, Molly McCormick on questions, and even Chilli the cat making an appearance. If you would like to draw or bake from the live video you can watch it again here.
Ingredients (syrup and orange slices):
300g (about 3) blood oranges
125ml water
200g golden caster sugar
Ingredients (cake):
150g unsalted butter (plus extra for greasing)
150g golden caster sugar
2 large eggs
200g ground almond flour
110g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
zest of 1 blood orange
juice of 1 blood orange
1 tbsp demerara sugar
Method:
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celcius (fan oven).
Grease a 20cm - 30cm circular baking tin with the extra butter, and line it with baking paper. It’s best to use a baking tin with removable sides as this makes the release of the cake much easier!
Wash your blood oranges well.
Cut three of the blood oranges into slices about half a centimetre thick - you should have about 300g of orange slices.
To make the syrup, combine 125ml water with 200g caster sugar in a pan and bring to the boil on a high heat until the sugar has dissolved. Keep watching and stirring - don’t let it burn!
Once the sugar has dissolved, turn the syrup down to a medium heat and add the orange slices.
Leave the oranges to simmer in the syrup for about 10-15 minutes, until the rind is slightly translucent. Use a pair of tongs to gently turn the orange slices every now and again, making sure each one cooks in the syrup.
Then lift the orange slices out of the syrup and lay them out on a flat surface to cool.
Continue to cook the syrup on a medium heat for a further10 minutes so that it thickens up. It should be a beautiful pink colour from the oranges. Keep stirring, and once again, don’t let it burn!
For the cake batter, start by beating the butter and the sugar together with an electric whisk in a large bowl until smooth. My dad’s tip of the day in the video is to start by mixing them together with your hands as this stops the sugar from flying everywhere.
Then add the eggs to the bowl, one at a time, beating well as you add them.
Use a fine sieve to sift the plain flour and the baking powder into the bowl (with the butter, eggs, and sugar), so as to avoid any lumps forming.
Then add the almond flour and use the electric whisk once again to combine the dry ingredients with the wet mix.
Grate the zest of the blood orange and add it to the bowl, before cutting the orange open and squeezing the juice into the mix.
Add the vanilla essence and use a spatula to gently fold the newly added ingredients into the existing mix.
Sprinkle the demerara sugar into the baking tin, making sure to cover the surface evenly. This provides a surface for the oranges to sit on so they don’t stick.
Now is the fun part - gently lay the oranges on top of the sugar in the baking tin - it’s almost like a puzzle. They can go slightly up the sides too if you can get them to stick. As this is an upside-down cake, the oranges will end up on the top of the cake.
Finally, add the batter. It is quite a thick batter so use the spatula and pallet knife to gently smooth it on top of the oranges, making sure they don’t move.
Then put the cake in the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 170 degrees Celsius.
Bake for about 45 minutes, and to check it is cooked, insert a knife and the blade should come out clean. If not bake for a further 5 minutes.
Once the cake has baked, take it out of the oven and leave it to cool for about 10 minutes - don’t turn it out yet.
After 10 minutes, turn the base of the cake (the side without oranges) onto a plate and flip it upside down. The baking paper will stick to the oranges, so gently pull the paper off and you should be left with a beautiful orange top!
Using a pastry brush, gently brush the syrup over the top of the cake, allowing it to soak into the sponge. This gives a juicy texture but also glazes the oranges to bring out their incredible colour.
Slice and serve with a spoonful of creme fraiche or Greek yoghurt and a sprinkling of flaked almonds.
