This is a delicious and tangy Sicilian-inspired cake recipe. The almond and the orange are a perfect match!
This dessert is perfect for bringing a little pep to the end of winter, this recipe is easy to make and the cake keeps for several days.
Blood Orange and Almond Upside Down Cake
Equipment
- Mandoline slicer (optional)
- Cake tin with removable bottom (optional)
- Lemon zester (optional)
Ingredients
For the cake batter
- 2 big blood oranges
- 60 g cane sugar
- 60 g icing sugar
- 125 g flour I use 100 g white flour and 25 g buckwheat flour
- 100 g almond powder
- 100 g butter
- 60 g yogurt ½ pot
- 4 eggs
- 1 pinch vanilla powder optional
- 1 tablespoon orange blossom optional
- 10 g baking powder
- Salt
For the syrup
- 15-20 cl orange juice equivalent to 2 big blood oranges
- 50 g cane sugar
Instructions
- Wash all the oranges. Remove the zest from 2 oranges (with a lemon zester if you have one, otherwise with a fine grater). Then squeeze the 2 oranges to extract the juice and put the juice in a medium-sized pan (18 cm).
- Then slice one orange thinly (with a mandoline slicer if you have one, otherwise with a sharp knife). Depending on the size of your oranges and your cake tin, see if you have enough slices to cover the bottom of the tin, if not cut ½ orange more.
- Squeeze the last orange (or ½ orange) you have left, and set the juice aside.
- Melt the butter and set aside.
- Now make the syrup. Add the cane sugar to the pan containing the juice, mix together, and cook over a medium heat for about ten minutes, stirring occasionally. Check that the syrup is reducing and thickening (it should gradually become “glazed”).
- Preheat your oven to 175-180 °C.
- Prepare the mixture while the syrup is thocking. In a large bowl, mix the icing sugar and cane sugar, orange zest and 4 eggs. Whisk well to obtain a frothy consistency. Add the orange juice that you have set aside and the orange blossom if using.
- Add the yogurt and butter and mix well. In another bowl, mix the flour, almond powder, vanilla, baking powder and salt. Gradually pour this dry mixture into the cake batter while continuing to mix well. Your cake batter is ready.
- Once your syrup is ready, soak the orange slices in it over a very low heat for 2 minutes, then switch them back and forth and infuse for another 2 minutes. You will probably have to do this in several stages.
- You can now set up the cake. Butter the bottom and sides of the cake tin (preferably with a removable base – 23 cm). Place baking paper on the bottom, pressing it down well so that it doesn’t move.
- Then place the orange slices on the bottom, overlapping them slightly (or not). Coat the slices again with syrup using a brush or spatula and save the rest of the syrup.
- Pour your cake batter over the top.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes. After 30 minutes, check if the cake is cooked with a knife blade, it should come out dry.
- Turn the cake out of the tin when it is cooked: turn it over and leave it to cool on a rack. After 5 minutes, cover the top with the remaining syrup.
- Serve warm or at room temperature, with a little whipped cream or ice cream (vanilla/pecan or pistachio for example) for those with a sweet tooth!