Blood Orange Upside Down Cake

By ltrodrigu

Blood Oranges are in season from December till March, in the United States. If you can't find them, any kind of orange will work with this recipe. This cake has cornmeal in it, which gives it a delightful crunch. In a way, this reminds me of Marie Callendar's famous corn bread. This cake is really easy to make, makes a very pretty presentation. (Recipe slightly adapted from Stacey Snacks who got it from "Coffee and Crumpets"

Ingredients

• For the Cake:
• 1 1/2 cups/225g all purpose/plain flour (like King Arthur unbleached flour)
• 3/4 cup/110g cornmeal
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup/200g sugar
• 1 1/2 sticks/170g butter, softened
• 1/4 cup/60ml neutral flavored olive oil (or veg or canola oil)
• 1/2 cup/120ml blood orange juice
• 3 eggs, large
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 tsp. pure orange oil (optional)
• For the Upside-Down Topping:
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup of dark brown sugar
• 2 to 3 blood oranges, sliced thin, rind/skin left on

Details

Servings 8
Preparation time 20mins
Cooking time 60mins
Adapted from afeastfortheeyes.net

Preparation

Step 1

You can bake this cake either in a cast-iron skillet or in a 9" x 3" round cake pan.

In a 350F preheated oven, melt the 4 tablespoons of butter and the brown sugar in a 9" heavy round cake pan (or cast iron skillet). This should take 5 minutes.

Spread the butter sugar mixture with a silicone spatula to cover the bottom of the tin sprayed with Pam for Baking Non-Stick spray.

Lay 2-3 thinly sliced oranges on top of this mixture in the pan, overlapped because they shrink after baking.

Set the cake pan aside while making the batter.

Mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, cornmeal and salt) in a large bowl.

In another bowl, beat the sugar with butter, vanilla, zest and eggs.

Lastly, add the juice and pure orange oil, if using, and mix together.

Add the wet to the dry and mix to form a nice batter.

Pour the batter over the orange slices and the butter/sugar mixture in the pan. Use an off-set spatula to evenly spread the batter.

Bake for 45 minutes.

Let the cake rest for only 5 minutes in the pan. Run a knife or thin baking spatula around the edges to release the cake.

Invert onto a cooling rack and tap lightly to release. If the orange slices are not overlapped enough, the cake may stick.

Allow to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.