How to Bake Blood Orange Upside-Down Cake
Serves: 8
Preparation time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 50 mins
Ingredients needed to make Blood Orange Upside-Down Cake:
- 3 medium blood oranges, unpeeled
- 3 tbsp polenta
- ¾ cup + 3 tbsp all purpose flour
- 2 eggs, separated
- 7 tbsp + ¾ cup sugar
- 6 tbsp whole milk
- ¼ tsp coarse sea salt
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 3 tbsp water
- ¾ tsp vanilla extract
- 8 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
Cooking instructions for Blood Orange Upside-Down Cake:
- Place a rack midway within the oven and warm it up to 350 degrees F.
- Pour 3 tbsp water into a large ovenproof, deep-bottomed skillet and stir in 6 tbsp sugar while cooking it over moderate heat, until the sugar dissolves.
- Bring the mixture to boil over increased heat for about 4 minutes, without agitating it at all, until it thickens into amber-coloured syrup.
- Turn off the heat and beat in a couple of tbsp butter until well combined; set the caramel aside.
- Slice off either ends of the blood oranges to flatten them out and slice them into 1/8’’ thick slices.
- Throw away the seeds and arrange them on top of the caramel in concentric circles, with overlapping edges.
- Stir in the polenta, sea salt and baking powder into the flour until well combined and set aside.
- Cream rest of the butter in a separate bowl, using electric mixer, along with ¾ cup sugar and a splash of vanilla until they fluff up and become light.
- Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time, while blending them into the mixture after every addition.
- Fold in 1/3 of the flour mixture into the above mixture, alternating with half of milk, in several batches, until all of them are used up and properly incorporated into the mixture to form a smooth batter.
- Whisk the egg whites in a separate large bowl until they form moist, soft peaks.
- Stir in rest of the sugar and continue to whisk the mixture until they form stiff yet moist peaks.
- Fold the meringue into the batter in 3 batches, blending it thoroughly into the mixture after each addition.
- Pour this batter over the orange slices and spread them evenly throughout the skillet.
- Bake the bake for about 45 minutes or until baked through and set aside for about 10 minutes to allow it to cool in the skillet.
- Invert the cake onto a serving platter and set aside to cool the cake completely.
- Slice and serve.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
