I came across some blood oranges and thought to use them for a dessert, and I used them in a Madeira cake recipe with some modifications.
Ingredients:
- 10 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature, plus extra (melted) for greasing
- 1 tbsp corn syrup
- 3-4 small blood oranges
- 1 medium orange (enough to yield 2-3 tbsp of juice)
- 3 tbsp of Greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup of Grand Marnier
- 3 brown eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar (normal recipe calls for 3/4 cups but I prefer less sugar)
- 1 1/2 cup of flour (I used cake flour, but white flour will do also)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- a pinch of salt
Directions:Preheat the oven to 325F.Soak the oranges in water, unless using organic oranges, which can be rinsed.Remove the rind from 2 oranges (one yellow and one blood orange), and set aside.Peel the blood oranges and cut off as much of the pith as possible (since that is the bitter part of the orange). Slice the oranges into even, relatively thin (less than 1/4 inch thick) slices.Grease a standard (ring) bundt cake pan by brushing the butter inside the pan, including the creases.Spoon the syrup into the bottom.Arrange overlapping slices of the blood oranges over the syrup all around the bottom of the pan.With a hand mixer or a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy.Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating the mixture well between each one and adding a tablespoon of the flour with the last egg to prevent the mixture curdling.Sift the flour along with the baking powder and salt and gently fold in, alternating with the yogurt.Mix in the orange juice and Grand Marnier, and fold in the orange rind.Spoon the mixture into the pan and smooth the surface.Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until firm and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.Cool for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Invert the cake on wire rack and cool completely.Slice and serve with honey drizzle, a Grand Marnier sauce, or simply as is. Can be refrigerated, covered, up to 3 days, and served slightly warmed.
