Blood Orange Loaf Cake
Blood Orange Loaf Cake
I love this blood orange loaf cake recipe. My lemon loaf cake recipe is a firm favourite in my house, so I thought I’d try switching out the lemons for blood oranges and it did not disappoint! The sponge is super soft and moist, and the blood orange flavor is just right. It’s important to use a neutral oil instead of something like olive oil, as this will affect the flavour of your cake.
I’ve added blood orange glaze but also given you the option for a chocolate frosting – because who doesn’t love chocolate orange?! You could also add some blood orange slices to the top for an extra bit of decoration.
Follow my video and step-by-step recipe to make this easy blood orange cake.
Looking for more loaf cake recipes? Check out my marble loaf cake and my brown butter & orange loaf cake recipes.
Ingredients
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 160C/320F (Non-fan Assisted). Lightly grease a 2lb loaf tin, and coat the inside with a few tablespoons of flour before tipping out the excess.
In a bowl, massage the blood orange zest into the sugar for one minute, then add the eggs and then using a stand mixer or electric hand whisk, whisk the mixture together for 3 minutes on a medium speed, until thicker and paler in consistency.
Pour in the cream and whisk again.
Remove the bowl from the mixer and scrape off any orange zest that may be stuck to the whisk. Add it back into the batter. Sift in the dry ingredients and gently whisk them in by hand.
Whisk in the oil just until you have a smooth batter.
Pour the mixture into the loaf tin. Pipe a thin line of soft butter down the centre and bake for around 65-75 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. The bake time may vary depending on your tin, so keep an eye on it.
While the cake bakes, boil the syrup ingredients together until the sugar has dissolved and set this aside.
Once the cake has baked, remove it from the tin and poke a few holes in it with a skewer. Soak it with the syrup, then pop it out of the tin and wrap the cake tightly in cling film and chill it overnight. This will help to improve the texture of the cake.
This cream is optional, but pairs really well with the blood orange flavours and can be piped on top as a decoration. Into a small bowl, stir together the powdered gelatin and cold water. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
In a small saucepan, add the milk and glucose and bring it to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally to dissolve the glucose.
Once hot, remove it from the heat and stir through the bloomed gelatin to dissolve it.
Slowly pour the hot milk, over the melted chocolate, adding it in three additions, and stirring vigorously with a spatula. Initially it may look quite oily, but as you add the remaining milk it will become smooth.
Pour in the cold cream and blend it to combine (or whisk if you don't have a hand blender).
Pour it into a bowl and cover the surface with a sheet of clingfilm. Refrigerate it overnight.
Pre-heat the oven to 160C/320F. Into a bowl, sift in the icing sugar.
Whisk in enough lemon juice to create a thick, glue like consistency - start with the juice of about 1/2 lemon.
Then add a small squeeze of fresh blood orange juice to give a pop of colour. The consistency of the glaze should be slightly runny.
Remove the cake from the fridge and paint the glaze all over the outside of the cake, then place it on a baking tray and pop the cake in the oven for 1-2 minutes, just to set the glaze.
Allow the cake to come to room temperature before serving.
Recipe note - If you are decorating the cake with the chocolate namelaka then there is no need to add the glaze as the citrus lemon flavour doesn't pair as well with the chocolate cream. Simply remove the namelaka from the fridge and whisk it up using a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until you have a medium stiff peak. Pipe this onto the cake.
Ingredients
Directions
Pre-heat the oven to 160C/320F (Non-fan Assisted). Lightly grease a 2lb loaf tin, and coat the inside with a few tablespoons of flour before tipping out the excess.
In a bowl, massage the blood orange zest into the sugar for one minute, then add the eggs and then using a stand mixer or electric hand whisk, whisk the mixture together for 3 minutes on a medium speed, until thicker and paler in consistency.
Pour in the cream and whisk again.
Remove the bowl from the mixer and scrape off any orange zest that may be stuck to the whisk. Add it back into the batter. Sift in the dry ingredients and gently whisk them in by hand.
Whisk in the oil just until you have a smooth batter.
Pour the mixture into the loaf tin. Pipe a thin line of soft butter down the centre and bake for around 65-75 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. The bake time may vary depending on your tin, so keep an eye on it.
While the cake bakes, boil the syrup ingredients together until the sugar has dissolved and set this aside.
Once the cake has baked, remove it from the tin and poke a few holes in it with a skewer. Soak it with the syrup, then pop it out of the tin and wrap the cake tightly in cling film and chill it overnight. This will help to improve the texture of the cake.
This cream is optional, but pairs really well with the blood orange flavours and can be piped on top as a decoration. Into a small bowl, stir together the powdered gelatin and cold water. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
In a small saucepan, add the milk and glucose and bring it to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally to dissolve the glucose.
Once hot, remove it from the heat and stir through the bloomed gelatin to dissolve it.
Slowly pour the hot milk, over the melted chocolate, adding it in three additions, and stirring vigorously with a spatula. Initially it may look quite oily, but as you add the remaining milk it will become smooth.
Pour in the cold cream and blend it to combine (or whisk if you don't have a hand blender).
Pour it into a bowl and cover the surface with a sheet of clingfilm. Refrigerate it overnight.
Pre-heat the oven to 160C/320F. Into a bowl, sift in the icing sugar.
Whisk in enough lemon juice to create a thick, glue like consistency - start with the juice of about 1/2 lemon.
Then add a small squeeze of fresh blood orange juice to give a pop of colour. The consistency of the glaze should be slightly runny.
Remove the cake from the fridge and paint the glaze all over the outside of the cake, then place it on a baking tray and pop the cake in the oven for 1-2 minutes, just to set the glaze.
Allow the cake to come to room temperature before serving.
Recipe note - If you are decorating the cake with the chocolate namelaka then there is no need to add the glaze as the citrus lemon flavour doesn't pair as well with the chocolate cream. Simply remove the namelaka from the fridge and whisk it up using a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until you have a medium stiff peak. Pipe this onto the cake.
Matt, could you please provide an approximate number of eggs in your recipes? I’m completely clueless how many eggs are 170 grams, and if I have that many.
one egg is roughly 60g! So you will need 3-4 eggs 🙂
Hey Matt! Lovely recipe! What can I substitute eggs with? Will cream or yogurt do the job?
I’m afraid I do not test these with any egg replacements
Hey . Thanks for the recipe. Could we use melted butter instead of oil? Is it better if it is clarified? Thanks 🙂
I’m afraid I didn’t test this with butter
Hi !
What’s the purpose of piping the butter down the middle before baking?
Thanks !
It gives it the lovely crack down the centre once it is baked 🙂
Hey mate, could this be made into a large batch cake, 4x 2kg and hold in the fridge well for 3-4 days? Would it be okay to use as well on my restaurant?
I haven’t scaled it up but should be fine. Will keep really well for a few days. Would love to see it on your menu!!
Hi
Can I use Oranges instead of blood oranges?
Yes no problem!
Would self rising flour also work? And if so, would you still use the baking powder ?
I haven’t tested that i’m afraid
Does 170g of eggs include the shell?
no shell