Blood Orange Upside-Down Cake

This blood orange upside-down cake is the perfect treat to brighten dreary winter days. The tart sweetness of the blood oranges is the perfect complement to the almond cake base! 

Blood oranges are in season December through April, but I always find them in my grocery store in January and February, making them a pretty and bright post holiday treat. 

Why will you love this recipe?

Upside-down cakes are perfect because they are so simple to make and are beautiful without frosting. My bourbon peach upside-down cake is a summer favorite! 

This one uses bourbon caramel to sweeten and keep the pretty blood oranges in place as the cake bakes. It also ensures that your gorgeous designs stay intact while baking and during the turning out of the cake. 

This recipe also keeps the peel and rind of the oranges on; this gives the cake an extra punch of blood orange flavor. The caramel sweetens the slices enough to remove most of the rind's bitterness and leaves the wonderful orange flavor.  

Key Ingredients:

Blood oranges: blood oranges are the highlight of this recipe! Thinly slice 4-5 oranges with the peel on and arrange the slices darkest to lightest at the bottom of a cake pan to create the prettiest design.

Sugar: sugar sweetens this cake and is creates the caramel that carmelizes and keeps the oranges in place. 

Almond flour: almond flour with all-purpose flour provides the structure for the cake. Almond flour is a moist flour that provides a subtle almond flavor and helps to keep the cake moist. 

Vanilla and Almond Extract: these extracts flavor the cake batter and help complement the orange slices' flavor. The almond extract is key and really elevates the cake. 

Step by step instructions:

1. Line a 9-inch cake pan with parchment paper and butter or oil the paper.
2. Arrange the sliced oranges over the parchment, starting at the bottom and working your way up. I stared with the darkest slices and ended with the lightest. 
3. Make the caramel by combining ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons of water with ¾ cup sugar. Heat over medium-high heat until it turns amber.
4.  Remove from heat, add the 1 tablespoon bourbon, and pour evenly over the blood orange slices.
5. Make the cake batter by beating the butter and ¾ cup sugar, then add in the eggs, vanilla, and almond extracts. Beat until well mixed. 
6. Whisk together the flours and baking powder and then slowly beat it into the batter.
7. Pour the batter over the blood orange slices and smooth the surface.
8. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick or knife comes out clean.
9. Let the cake cool before turning it out. 

Tips for success:

There are a few tricks that make making this little cake really easy!

• Use a cake pan, not a springform pan. If you use a springform pan, the wonderful caramel will leak out all over your oven.
• Line your pan with parchment paper and then butter or oil the parchment. Caramel is very sticky, so to ensure that your beautiful fruit topping stays intact, line the pan with parchment so it can be easily removed. 
• Watch the caramel. Caramel is very particular, once it's on the heat, it cant be stirred, and it goes from underdone, to ready, to burnt very fast. So watch it very closely. Wait until it turns amber, then remove from heat. 
• Thinly slice the oranges; since we keep the peels on the oranges, too thick slices will be bitter. Shoot for ½ centimeter in thickness. 

FAQ's

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