Name: Blood Orange Upside-Down Cake
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 32 min
Total time: 52 min
Yield: 8
Ingredients: 1/3 C plus 2 tbsp light brown sugar; 2 1/2 tbsp butter, melted; 1 tsp water; 2 blood oranges; 3/4 C sugar; 1/3 C plain yogurt; 2 eggs; 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil; 1 1/3 C all-purpose flour; 1 tsp baking powder; 1/4 tsp baking soda; pinch of salt

It’s the New Year and The Cake Slice Bakers group has chosen a new cake cookbook for 2020 – The New Way to Cake by Benjamina Ebuehi. I chose Blood Orange Upside-Down Cake for the first selection because January is the height of citrus season.

I’m an absolute cooking/baking competition fanatic. I admit it. You may recall that Benjamina was on Season 7 of The Great British Bake Off and got up to the quarter finals before being eliminated. Besides GBBO, I also watch Zumbo Just Desserts and that wonderful Kid’s Baking Championship on Food Network. I’ve learned so much about baking from the competitions and it’s fun to cheer for the bakers. You’ve not lived till you binge watch Netflix’s Australian Zumbo competition. I think I need to get a life.

The cake is fairly straightforward to put together. It uses yogurt and olive oil in it instead of butter and I like the way the olive oil goes with the orange flavor. You make a brown sugar paste (to which I added butter; just couldn’t help myself), place the thinly sliced blood oranges on top of the paste, then pour in the batter. Benjamina says to use the outer peel, but I don’t like that bitterness so I sliced the peel and pith off first. It made a pretty cake!

You don’t get a gooey sauce like on a Pineapple Upside-Down Cake. Instead the “top” ends up with a crunchy, caramely layer that goes beautifully with the oranges and the orange cake.

If you can’t find blood oranges, it will work perfectly with regular oranges. This Blood Orange Upside-Down Cake is simple, delicious, and you just can’t go wrong with fresh orange zest and slices. Wonderful little cake. I’m already excited to decide on and bake next month’s bake from Benjamina’s book.

Take a look at the other Cake Slice Bakers’ bakes listed below the recipe!

Blood Orange Upside-Down Cake

Yield: 8 -10

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 32 minutes

Total Time: 52 minutes

Pretty cake with blood oranges!

Ingredients

1/3 C plus 2 tbsp light brown sugar
2 1/2 tbsp butter, melted
1 tsp water
2 blood oranges
3/4 C sugar
1/3 C plain yogurt
2 eggs
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/3 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a 9" round cake pan, then line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar, butter, and water to make a smooth, spreadable paste. Spread the brown sugar mixture on the parchment paper, smoothing to the edges. Set aside.
Put the sugar in a medium bowl. Zest one of the oranges and add to the sugar. Rub the zest into the sugar with your fingertips until the zest is evenly distributed. Set aside.
Slice both oranges as thinly as possible. With a very sharp paring knife, cut around the edges of the peel, including the pith and remove the peel/pith carefully without tearing the oranges. Arrange the pattern of oranges on a plate and cut any orange you need to, to get the pretty pattern you want. Then move the oranges onto the top of the brown sugar mixture in the pan.
Pour the yogurt into the bowl with the sugar and orange zest and whisk briefly to combine. Whisk in the eggs and olive oil. Stir in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until smooth. Gently pour the batter in the pan, not disturbing the orange slices. Smooth the batter with the back of a spatula or mixing spoon to the edges.
Bake for 30-32 minutes, until the sponge is firm to the touch and golden brown. Leave the cake in the pan to cool completely before attempting to turn it upside down on your cake plate.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1 slice
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 221Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 45mgSodium: 137mgCarbohydrates: 34gFiber: 1gSugar: 20gProtein: 4g

Nutrition Values are Approximate

Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is The New Way To Cake by Benjamina Ebuehi. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th – never before – we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes!

Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the thumbnail pictures below to take you to each of our cakes. If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details.

The Cake Slice Bakers also have a new Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.

It is a new year and a new book – The New Way To Cake – and our choices for January 2020 were ~

Blood Orange & Olive Oil Upside Down Cake

Spiced Sweet Potato Loaf with Cream Cheese Frosting

Sticky Ginger Cake with Caramelized White Chocolate Buttercream

The August Cake Slice Bakers choices of cakes this month were very interesting: Olive Oil Cake with Fresh Peaches, Hummingbird Cake, M’hanncha, and Oliver Peyton’s Strawberry and Marjoram Cream Tart. I was tempted to make the South’s legendary Hummingbird Cake, but I have a long-time love-hate relationship with banana cake and just couldn’t bring myself to make it, as beautiful as it is. Couldn’t figure out the M’hanncha, and have already made many strawberry bakes lately.

It came down to the Olive Oil Cake with Fresh Peaches and since I’ve made quite a few peach bakes this summer, I decided to use currants (you can substitute raisins for them if you’d like).

This was the first olive oil cake I’ve attempted and was pleased with the baked texture. I was worried that it would either have a heavy olive oil taste or be oily, and double-checked that I was using very fresh extra-virgin olive oil. The cake came out dense and close-crumbed and tasted a lot like pound cake. Be sure and use the jam glaze for a lightly fruity finish that soaks into the top of the cake.

Using olive oil instead of regular oil or butter is supposed to be better for you. You can just taste the olive oil, but it’s not overpowering; somehow it works. Oh, and the rehydrated currants were a nice addition and gave each bite a little tang.

Olive Oil Cake with Currants

Yield: 10

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes

Dense, tasty cake made with olive oil

Ingredients

1/2 C currants (or raisins)
1/4 C fresh orange juice
3 eggs
2 tbsp finely grated orange zest (about 2 oranges)
1 1/3 C sugar
1/2 C olive oil
1/3 C whole milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 C all-purpose flour, sifted
1 C self-rising flour, sifted
1/4 C plum or apricot jam, warmed and strained

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a 8" high-sided round pan, lining the bottom with parchment paper.
Put the currants into a small bowl and pour the fresh orange juice over them. Stir and set aside, stirring occasionally.
Beat together the eggs, orange zest, and sugar until well combined (3-4 minutes). Scrape down sides of bowl if needed.
Stir the vanilla into the milk. Add the sifted flour to the egg mixture and mix on low. While mixing, alternate adding the oil and milk until well combined.
Stir the currants and orange juice they were soaking in into the batter until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40-50 minutes, checking at 40 minutes with a toothpick. Toothpick will have a few crumbs, but no liquid. (Mine took almost an hour - check every 5 minutes after 40 minutes.)
Remove from the oven and let rest about 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out the cake onto a rack. Cool for a few minutes, and while warm, brush with warm jam for a glossy finish.

Notes

Tips and Stuff:

The original cake recipe called for a "deep 7" round springform cake pan" which would work great, but I didn't have one, so used the 8", high-sided cake pan.

Make sure to use good quality, fresh olive oil.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1 slice
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 347Total Fat: 13gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 57mgSodium: 176mgCarbohydrates: 54gFiber: 1gSugar: 34gProtein: 5g

Nutrition Values are Approximate