My favourite thing to do in the warmer months is eat breakfast outside, and I know right now you are thinking “Why are you telling me this?” or “How did I get here?”, but it makes a difference!
It makes eating an event, and less of a rush to getting out of the door. Hanging with the birds and rays of sun on the back of my neck is what blue skies are all about. Plus you get all of the scents of summer; hazy breezes, floral scents and my fruit is always somewhat amplified by the warmth.
Eating with your nose is important, it aids with the getting-full-feeling, makes you more aware of what you are eating and it makes you happy. Some of my best memories are those of eating fruits in summer (If I could marry fruit I really would, for real). Holidays in Cyprus eating the best fresh cherries, seeing how far we could spit the pits, fresh strawberries from my grandparents back-garden (my love of strawberries is well documented on my recipes page) and my gorgeous friend Abby’s blood orange tree at her parents house (with the cutest dog ever; love you Snowy!). That last memory holds so true in my head whenever I eat Blood oranges (pretty much constantly for the three or four weeks they in season). This cake is warmth, remnants of winter and spring all in one.
Blood Orange and Almond Upside-Down Cake
Adapted from Joy the Baker
Makes one 9 inch cake
For the Topping:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 blood oranges thinly sliced
For the Cake:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
130gr Plain Flour
30gr Almond Meal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground ginger
2/3 cup plain yoghurt
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
Place butter in the cake pan and place in the oven. When butter is melted, remove pan from the oven. Tilt the pan around and around, coating the sides of the pan with butter. Once sides are coated, sprinkle the sugar over the melted butter and lay the oranges flat in the still warm pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and brown sugar on medium speed. Cream until slightly pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Stop mixer, scrape down the bowl with a spatula, and add egg, vanilla extract and ginger. Beat for 1 minute.
Turn the mixer off, scrape the bowl, and add the dry ingredients. Beat on low speed while adding the yoghurt. Beat until the batter just comes together. Batter will be pretty thick. Remove the bowl from the mixer and finish incorporating ingredients with a spatula.
Spoon batter over the oranges and spread evenly with a spatula. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Let cake rest for 10 minutes before running a knife around the edge of the cake and inverting the cake onto a cake plate.
The Little Cookbook 