This easy to make blood orange cake recipe explodes with blood orange flavor, a complex and sophisticated mix of citrus, sweet, and tart!
Blood orange cake
Originating from the Mediterranean, blood oranges have a rich, complex flavor and tons of vitamin C. Despite their gruesome name, blood oranges get their red flesh from the same pigments as blueberries. Depending on the pH of the soil, among many other factors, the pigments take on colors anywhere from blue to red. Ever since I discovered these oranges, I knew I needed to add them to a blood orange cake!
Other citrus recipes you will love:
- No bake lemon pie
- Cream cheese lemon mousse
- Honey cake with orange glaze
- Lemon almond cookies
- Orange fluff salad
What Do Blood Oranges Taste Like?
Some people say blood oranges are slightly bitter and tart and others say they are sweet and have a hint of raspberry. The fact is, blood oranges have an array of flavor profiles depending on their type and ripeness. Even though there is variability in flavor profiles, this blood orange cake will taste great despite the sweetness or tartness of your blood oranges because it relies mostly on the zest for flavor.
Picking the Right Oranges
Blood oranges are in season from December to April. When picking blood oranges for the best blood orange cake recipe, hold them to gauge their heaviness. The heavier an orange, the juicier it will be. Sometimes waiting until later in the season yields blood oranges that are sweeter because they had an increased time to ripen.
However, this isn’t always the case as some fruit vendors refrigerate and store their crops. So, don’t stress about this too much! The tarter blood oranges balance out the sugar, while the sweeter ones complement the acidic elements. Either way, this orange bundt cake is delicious.
How to Prepare Your Bundt Pan
For this recipe, I used a standard 10-inch bundt pan. For bundt cakes, you must coat your bundt pan generously with cooking spray. Be sure to get into all the crevasses or you’ll have an ugly blood orange bundt cake. Better yet, coat your bundt pan in butter, then flour. This will ensure you don’t have any stuck pieces left in your bundt mold.
Don’t Skip the Baking Powder
In this orange cake the baking powder is very important. First, it’s a leavening agent meaning it helps the cake develop its spongey texture. Additionally, the baking powder will help to keep the red tint of the blood oranges in the cake. Without baking powder, you risk your orange bundt cake becoming too discolored.
Bring Ingredients to Room Temperature
When baking, it’s a best practice to bring butter, eggs, and buttermilk to room temperature. Bringing these ingredients to room temperature helps with the consistency of your cake mix.
How to Zest the oranges
This recipe calls for blood orange zest. If you’re not familiar with the zest of citrus fruits, let me explain. The flavor of blood oranges is primarily located in the flavor-producing oils located on the rind of the fruit. When we grate that rind, we release flavor molecules. Try mixing the zest with the sugar in a food processor to maximize the blood orange essence that shines through to the final blood orange cake.
To zest the blood orange, grab your citrus zester or any fine-tooth grater and start grating the outside of the blood orange. Stop grating when you see the rind change from its orangey-red hue to white. The white flesh is extremely bitter, avoid it as much as possible.
How to Store Blood Orange Zest
The flavor oils in the blood orange zest are only active for a short time after being zested. For this reason, you can’t expect to store the extra zest from this blood orange cake in the fridge or on the counter. However, blood orange zest preserves flavor great when frozen. So, try freezing any leftover zest.
To freeze leftover zest after making the blood orange cake, spread it out on a cookie sheet or otherwise flat surface. Make sure the zest is spread out well for the best results. Once frozen, transfer blood orange zest into an airtight container and return it to the freezer.
Cooling and Storing Blood orange Cake
When your cake is finished baking, cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Once partially cooled, carefully remove the cake from the bundt pan and allow it to cool on a wire rack until it is warm to the touch. At this stage, I have found that covering the cake with plastic wrap will keep it from drying out.
If you are making the blood orange bundt cake the night before an event, using the plastic wrap trick is highly suggested. After a day or so the cake will begin to dry out. Feel free to store it short term but don’t make any long-term plans to save this cake unless you’re freezing it.
Glaze the cake when you’re ready to serve, when the cake is cooled completely.
Making the blood orange cake recipe
What ingredients do you need
- All purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Yogurt
- Dairy Milk or almond milk for a vegan version
- Sugar/ coconut sugar
- Blood orange juice
- Vegetable oil or olive oil
- Orange zest
- Vanilla extract
For the glaze:
- Powdered sugar
- Orange juice
How to make blood orange cake
- In a bowl, combine all the wet ingredients. Mix everything well.
- Mix all the dry ingredients in another bowl.
- Gently fold in all the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Batter should be just combined but not over mixed.
- Grease bundt pan with butter or oil, transfer the batter to the pan and tap 1-2 times to avoid any air pockets.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, with few tender crumbs attached. Let cake cool at least 15-30 minutes before removing.
- For orange glaze, combine powdered sugar and orange juice and mix to a thick consistency.
- Once the cakes cools down, add orange glaze on top.
Pin to save for later
Print the recipe card
Blood orange cake
Ingredients
For the cake
- 2 cups All purpose flour
- 1 tbsp Baking powder
- 1 tsp Baking soda
- 3/4 cup Yogurt plain
- 1/2 cup Milk or almond milk
- 1 cup Sugar or coconut sugar
- 1/2 cup Blood orange juice
- 1/2 cup Vegetable oil or olive oil
- 1 tbsp Blood orange zest
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
For the glaze
- 2 cup Powdered sugar
- 2 or 3 tbsp Blood orange juice
Instructions
- Pre heat the oven at 350 F
To make the cake
- In a bowl, combine all the wet ingredients. Mix everything well.
- Mix all the dry ingredients in another bowl.
- Gently fold in all the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Batter should be just combined but not over mixed.
- Grease bundt pan with butter or oil, transfer the batter to the pan and tap 1-2 times to avoid any air pockets.
- Bake for 40-43 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, with few tender crumbs attached. Let cake cool at least 15-30 minutes before removing.
To make the glaze
- For orange glaze, combine powdered sugar and orange juice and mix to a thick consistency.
- Once the cake cools down, add orange glaze on top.
Nutrition
Jacqueline Debono says
We love blood oranges here in Italy. The best ones are tarocco oranges from Sicily and since my hubby is Sicilian those are the ones we buy when possible. I’ve never made a cake with them but will definitely try this recipe. The cake looks really good and delicious!
Denise says
No eggs !!???
Is this a mistake?