I can’t let citrus season end without another blood orange recipe. It’s my favourite citrus of them all and the season to get them in is super short.
I don’t make a lot of cake and I definitely don’t make a lot of bundt cake. This is maybe the second bundt cake I’ve ever made. I got myself a fancy new bundt cake pan to work with and greased and floured the darn thing as well as I could to prevent the cake from sticking to the pan.
It was a success!
This cake has a nice subtle blood orange flavour. I didn’t want to to be too much to the point where it tasted like a fruity perfume. We’ve got just the right balance of orange in the cake and in the glaze. It’s a good place to be!
Bundt cakes are fun because the pans come in all different shapes with various designs. I love the look of a swirl bundt cake and the way the blood orange glaze drips into each crevice is just perfection.
I’m not gonna lie, when I was testing this recipe, I was a little nervous that the amount of batter I had was going to be too much for the bundt pan. That was one full pan of cake batter.
Fortunately, it was the perfect amount for a nice sized bundt cake and none of the batter poured out of the pan and went all over my oven. A major win because I really thought it would.
That gorgeous pink glaze? 100% natural. That stunning colour is all from the juice of the blood oranges, no food colouring required. I like a slightly loose glaze that kind of sinks into the warm cake as opposed to sticking on top of it, but if you want a thicker glaze, just use a little less juice or some more powdered sugar.
This cake is so, so good. If you only make one thing with blood oranges this season, make it this cake. You won’t regret it!
Ingredients
Cake:
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- Zest of 2-3 blood oranges
- 3 tbsp. fresh blood orange juice
- 1 1/4 cups milk
- 10 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed
Glaze:
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 4 tbsp. blood orange juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a bundt pan very well making sure to really get into all crevices, then lightly flour the pan. Set aside.
- Lightly whisk flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and set aside. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat eggs until they are thickened and very pale yellow in color. Turn mixer on low and slowly add sugar to running mixer and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla, blood orange juice and blood orange zest. Slowly pour in dry ingredients on low speed until combined.
- In a small saucepan, heat milk until very hot and butter is just melted. Don't let the milk boil and whisk the mixture to help the butter melt. Pour into the batter and mix until smooth. Your batter will be very thin. Pour into prepared baking pan and bake for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Once done, remove cake from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes in pan. Loosen edges of the pan with a knife or offset spatula, then turn the cake onto a large round platter or cake stand. Allow cake to finish cooling until warm to the touch.
- While cake is cooling, prepare the glaze. Whisk together powdered sugar and blood orange juice, using more or less blood orange juice as needed to get desired consistency. Once cake is cooled down slightly, drizzle glaze over warm cake.
