Blood Orange Cardamom Cake

    Recently I was shocked to find out that blood orange's harvesting season is December-March! Considering it is warmer further south than it is here in the frigid Midwest (the air temperature hit -50 this past January), I guess it would make sense that other places further south are still able to harvest fruits. Anyway, I made this discovery when I went to the grocery store and found blood oranges for only $4 a bag! There were about 8 oranges in my bag so I thought it was a pretty good deal!

    I immediately knew I wanted to make some kind of dessert that showcased the gorgeous color of these oranges. The first treat that came to mind was an upside-down cake. That way I could preserve the color and shape of the oranges while thoroughly incorporating them into a cake. I started by making my sugary bottom/top. I do this by mixing water, sugar, and vanilla in a small saucepan and brought it to a simmer. I only mixed it until the sugar was dissolved and then let it just thicken for a bit. Once I could put my spatula in and then remove it and hold it flat without all of the syrup running off I knew it was thick enough. While my syrup was thickening I sliced two oranges super thinly and arranged them in the bottom of my cake pans. I was making two small cakes so I used about one orange per cake. Once my syrup was done I poured it over the oranges in the bottom of my cake pans then I set them aside until the batter was ready.

    I made my batter by mixing together  oil, softened butter, and brown sugar together. I then added in eggs one at a time and beat. Then I added my salt, sour cream, orange zest, and a tish of orange juice and mixed until well combined. The orange juice is totally optional. I mostly added it for the color but I found out later that it actually turned my cake green after baking! Not sure how that happened considering my oranges and juice were very red but it was still cool! When making this in the future I probably will not add the juice to the batter though, just the zest. 

    When all of my wet ingredients were combined, I mixed together flour, baking powder, and baking soda, then added it to my batter. Last minute I decided that blood orange cake alone was too boring so I decided to add a healthy amount of cardamom just before I was done mixing the batter. This ended up being a very good call as it added a little depth to the cake's flavor.

    I was careful not to over mix my batter before I divided it evenly between my two 4-inch cake pans. I used springform cake pans just in case the oranges decided to stick to the bottom of my pan. I quickly learned that they leaked, however, and had to deal with an oven fire later on. Thankfully, the fire was very small and the cakes somehow cooked all the way through. Next time I use these cake pans though I will have to put a cookie sheet under them. 

    I baked my cakes at 350 degrees F for a little over 30 minutes. If you are using the normal 8-9 inch cake pan, you might need to bake it for up to 40 minutes.While my cakes were still warm but not too hot to handle, I removed them from my pan in order to allow the syrup from my oranges to seep into the rest of the cake. I prepared my cakes the day before an event so I had to freeze them, cut them in half, and fill them with stabilized whipped cream. However, these are amazing alone, with a scoop of ice cream, or topped with a healthy serving of whipped cream on top. This cake is something I put into a category of "snack cakes". This means it is sturdy enough to pick up a whole piece and eat it like a piece of pizza. In my opinion, snack cakes also should be able to be eaten without frosting, ice cream, whipped cream, or any other additional topping other than itself. In my opinion, this cake very well fits the category! You can eat the sugar infused blood oranges on top or you can just eat the cake and still get the amazing flavors of blood orange and cardamom. 

    How did this recipe work for you? What should I make next? Leave me a comment!