When I first envisioned this cake, I pictured the red blood orange juice mixing with the yellow eggs creating a cake with a golden orange crumb. Then when I cut open my blood orange, I was shocked to see it had a dark purple, nearly black flesh! It was a little scary looking! (After some Wiki research, I think I may have had a Moro blood orange.) Anyway, I soldiered on. I poured out my olive oil and realized that it was green. Now red + yellow = orange, but purple + green + yellow = ... ehh... not to be overly dramatic or anything but the grayish green-brown batter looked pretty darn vile. Looks aren't everything right? At least it still smelled nice with the addition of the orange zest and smelled even better after it came out of the oven. The cracked brown exterior was really lovely and even though the interior wasn't the color I was hoping for, it was really delicious. Who knew olive oil would be so good in a cake! The olive oil made the cake so moist, tender, and heart healthy too! :) I'm sure it would look much better if you use an olive oil that was more on the yellow side and a blood orange that's more red than purple.
Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake
Adapted from Pure Desserts by Alice Medrich
2 C all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
3/4 C sugar
1 1/2 tsp orange zest
3 eggs
1/2 C fruity olive oil
2/3 C orange juice (blood orange, cara cara navel, or you can even substitute ruby red grapefruit juice)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper or butter and flour the pan.
In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
In a separate bowl rub the sugar together with the orange zest to release the fragrant oils.
In a blender add the eggs and orange sugar. Blend until it is light yellow and thick, then slowly drizzle in the olive oil as if you were making a mayonnaise. Then blend in the orange juice. Pour this liquid mixture into the dry ingredients and gently fold the batter together until no streaks of flour remain.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 350 deg F until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 50 minutes.
Remove the cake from the oven and cool on a metal rack for 10 minutes then remove from the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.
23 comments:
Hah -- I was wondering what color the cake came out! Blood orange tastes delicious, but the color can be downright terrifying. Would this work with a regular orange, too?
I've heard about olive oil in cakes, but have never tried it before. But I can see how the fruitiness of the olive oil can really lend itself to a sweet cake.
When I saw the title, I thought "Sweet and savory, ewwww." I had visions of draining blood off of raw meat. Gross. Glad it is something tasty and only sweet ;)
Just stumbled across your blog today--very cool stuff! (from the limited glance I've gotten anyhow!)...wanted to say, I learned to make a similar cake when I lived in Malta (that recipe used saffron for color and a different flavor--you could try that along with less purple oranges!)--but olive oil is excellent for cakes, in my opinion!
Looks like a great cake.
this looks and sounds like a great cake...despite color mishaps.
oh i just love olive oil in a cake! it makes the flavor so rich and earthy. this looks delicious!
I just love olive oil in cake, And alice medrich's one is simply phenomenal!
Amy, I have made a cake with olive oil so far and it was delicious - this loaf looks super yummy and so tender!
I LOVE olive oil cakes of all kinds. And your recipe looks great. This will be the 3rd time I've used your blog (I'm still a rabid fan of your mapo doufou).... thank you so much!
I love the moistness of olive oil cakes. I'm glad you said you could sub other fruit juices cause blood oranges won't be around here for a few more months.
I love olive oil in pound-like type cakes. Never thought to use blood oranges. I would love to try that. Those oranges have such a distinct flavor.
Eh I think it still turned out quite nicely! :)
you have an award on my blog. :)
I know what you mean about the color thing :), I once made a cake that looked like oscar the grouch in color :P. I'm so tempted to make an olive oil cake!
Lydia,
Definitely, a regular orange would work too.
PE,
It was surprisingly tasty. :)
Torina,
Haha that's quite the scary image.
Shannon,
Wow saffron, that sounds really good too!
Peabody,
Thanks!
Cindy,
Thank you!
Heather,
I totally agree. :)
Veron,
I agree, it was a really great recipe.
Patricia,
Thanks!
Margo,
Aw anytime! I'm so glad you like my recipe. I think the tofu could use even more sichuan peppercorn. :D
Susan,
Yeah this was an older recipe I made a few months ago when the oranges were in season.
Dawn,
Definitely try it and let me know :)
Lydia,
Definitely, a regular orange would work too.
PE,
It was surprisingly tasty. :)
Torina,
Haha that's quite the scary image.
Shannon,
Wow saffron, that sounds really good too!
Peabody,
Thanks!
Cindy,
Thank you!
Heather,
I totally agree. :)
Veron,
I agree, it was a really great recipe.
Patricia,
Thanks!
Margo,
Anytime! I'm so glad you like my recipe. I think the tofu could use even more sichuan peppercorn. :D
Susan,
Yeah this was an older recipe I made a few months ago when the oranges were in season.
Dawn,
Definitely try it and let me know :)
Hillary,
Aw thanks. :)
Seems like comments are broken for now.
I too, keep hearing about how great olive oil cakes are but have yet to make one. This sounds wonderful (even if the color was off!)
Trader Joe's makes a Blood Orange Soda. Could that work with this recipe?
I think the blood orange soda might be too dilute and you're probably better off just using regular orange juice.
Note: for some reason the comments aren't showing up right for me.
I made this with navel oranges! It's tasty but not doesn't have quite enough orange flavor - I'll try again with some sweeter oranges, or perhaps store-bough juice. Thanks for the recipe!
Bummer! Maybe try adding more zest too.
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