Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake
I’ve been a bit obsessed with blood oranges this winter: I’ve been buying them by the bagful, I’ve made marmalade, and from the moment I saw this olive oil cake, I have kept at least 3 blood oranges ready and waiting in my fruit bowl so that I would be ready to make this at a moment’s notice.
Unfortunately, it took 2 weeks for that moment to finally arrive.
But arrive it did, and it brought a stunning cake with it. Like previous olive oil cakes, this cake is beautifully mild with a delicious fruity finish due to a high content of extra virgin olive oil. The oil also happened to impart a darker greenish hue to my cake which may not look so attractive, but I can assure you, it did not detract one iota from its delicate flavor and luscious texture.
The blood oranges add a bright citrus flavor, though milder than regular oranges, which just gently perfumes the entire cake. Zest is rubbed into the sugar, a technique I’ve tried before with results that I loved. Freshly squeezed blood orange juice is added as well as juicy jewel-toned pulp silvers, which are obtained through “supreme”-ing an orange- which ended up being quite a challenge for me. It seems so simple in theory: cut away all the peel and pith by following the curve of the sides of the orange, and then cut out each segment from the stingy connective membranes. And I’m sure I’ve seen it done many times on Iron Chef, and maybe a Top Chef quickfire challenge? But when faced with the challenge in my OWN kitchen… well, let’s just say I managed to extract enough segments from orange innards for the recipe, but not without a lot of lost juice and a big bloody mess.
But the cake was well worth the mess!
The cake is stunning in its simplicity with a mild citrus flavor, a slightly crispy “crust” on the first day, and a luxuriously rich texture (without feeling heavy, like other butter-laden cakes) that only improves the longer you can keep yourself from devouring the entire loaf… not that I would know. I liked mine with freshly whipped cream at the start and end of my day, and next time I will be sure to save extra blood oranges make the honey blood orange compote!
Oatmeal Sandwich Bread and Meyer Lemon Blood Orange Marmalade
I finally had the opportunity to slooooooowww down this weekend and so I was happy to take advantage: I caught up on trashy reality tv, filled the apartment with the warmth and aroma of freshly baked whole wheat oatmeal bread (I wish I could bottle it!), and attempted to make jam for the very first time.
This bread is so good that I have actually been looking forward to waking up every morning for a toasted slice! It’s perfect with just a pat of butter, and even better with a bit of jam. It is earthy from the whole wheat and oatmeal, sweet from a touch of molasses, with a soft and tender crumb.
I’ve been eating this bread with a generous helping of home-made meyer lemon and blood orange marmalade. I was intrigued by the unique combination of Meyer lemon (a lemon-tangerine hybrid) and blood oranges and it certainly did not disappoint. It is a perfect balance of tart and sweet, like a little jolt of sunshine to break me out of my winter blues. Because both Meyer lemons and blood oranges are sweeter and less acidic than their lemon and orange relatives, the jam is not as mouth-puckering as one might expect from a fresh marmalade- the citrus is still a bit tart, but subtly so.
Making the jam was actually very easy, especially because I did not bother with canning the jam (trusting that I would succeed in eating the jam within a month, which, at the rate I am going through this jam, will not pose a problem!). Slices of fruit are cooked down until the pith and peel are soft and tender, then white sugar (for sweet) and raw demerara sugar (for slightly carmamelized flavor) are added until the mixture cooks down and sets into a sweet jammy goop. For next time, I would cut the slices into smaller segments, because although the cooking process renders the pith and peel into soft citrus candy, it is a bit difficult to spread these long tendrils on toast. I also think adding a bit of crystallized ginger might be heavenly. And I would love to learn to can, so I could make huge batches and enjoy all year round!
