emmakitchen Easter is just a few days away! I know that chocolate bunnies and sugary jellybeans are usually the treats of choice for this holiday, but let’s not forget that Easter lines right up with citrus season. That’s right: as the tulips bloom and the air gets sweeter, so do the oranges. It’s the perfect window for baking, so I couldn’t help but bring you an even-more-perfect recipe to celebrate with! We’re kicking off the equinox with a zingy, delightful dessert that tastes like springtime on a plate: Blood Orange Loaf Cake.
Before we get into the delicious details, it’s worth noting that this is So Cosmopoliteen’s first spring! I’m so excited to start sharing my catalog of warm-weather recipes and have a lot of fun things planned for the coming weeks. My Easter post will be up soon (it’s super cute if I’m honest!), and after that, expect lots of bakes centering around fresh, in-season fruits. I’m also going to test out more savory recipes and hopefully expand the “lifestyle” section of this blog, so stay tuned.
Right now, however, this Blood Orange Loaf Cake is the center of attention. It’s exceptionally moist, perfectly sweetened, and packed full of blood orange flavor. The cake itself is light and fragrant, and the glaze becomes a gorgeous cherry-blossom pink color once it’s mixed. It’s truly the quintessential spring dessert, and the timing couldn’t be better. Between its whimsical appearance and bright, festive flavor, this Blood Orange Loaf Cake makes for the perfect Easter centerpiece! Keep reading to see my inspiration behind this bake.
inspiration for blood orange loaf cake
My inspiration for this Blood Orange Loaf cake was that I have been dreaming of spring since December and now that it’s finally here, I wanted to create the most vibrant, invigorating recipe possible. Skiing and snow angels are fun, but there’s nothing like the smell of blossoming flowers in the air! This cake was baked to pretty much embody the cheeriness of the season, and it works. It is incredibly refreshing and bursting with sweet citrus flavor. You’ll be reminded of lush afternoon picnics and sun-kissed garden parties with every bite!
I also didn’t have much experience with loaf cakes and figured it would be a good challenge for a bored home baker who usually deals with cookies (I’m always trying to ‘test’ my baking skills like this. Croissants are next!). Luckily, this cake was a stunning success⏤ literally. Look how pretty it is!
Enough inspo though, let’s get to how my Blood Orange Loaf Cake was designed. The sooner we get through all this stuff, the sooner you can make it. ;-))
designing this loaf
My favorite recipes to post are always the ones that are mainly created by me, not adaptations or past favorites. I love those ones because honestly, it isn’t easy to mess with ratios, experiment with techniques, etc. and still have the end result turn out well. There’s so many variables to consider, and you never know how different ingredients will react. So whenever I get the chance to share all of that hard work with you guys, I want to! And that’s certainly the case today. This Blood Orange Cake has been thought out to the last detail and is all the more delicious for it.
It started out with a relatively basic loaf cake recipe, just for a starting point, and went up from there. I chose blood orange in order to highlight their ruby-red hue and succulent, floral flavor, and made a point to add both the zest and juice of 2 whole fruits so the flavor really shone through. I also added an extra egg to the batter (top-notch baking hack for you!). In some cases, this practice can be risky, but for cakes, an extra egg adds density and richness to the batter, which makes for a more velvety and indulgent crumb once baked.
This cake also features Greek yogurt as one of the star ingredients. Greek yogurt is AMAZING in baking (more on that later). The mild sour fattiness of it also pairs really well with the sharp sweetness of the blood orange in this cake, so it’s a win-win. It actually makes it so this cake doesn’t use any butter at all!
Finally, the glaze. Most loaf cake recipes will call for over a cup of sugar for the icing, but I simply didn’t want to go that route. Instead, we use a light hand on the glaze and let the spongy, moist cake and its wonderfully orangey taste take precedence. However, that’s not to say the glaze isn’t great! It’s the perfect amount to complement the loaf, and the contrast between its bold, Eastery color and the pale yellow of the cake = pure bliss. This has got to be the most inviting cake ever.
When the creamy icing sinks into the pillowy, golden-brown, perfectly dense cake… it’s incredible. I’ll be making this all year round. Now, here’s the ingredients & technique behind Blood Orange Loaf Cake.
ingredients & technique for blood orange loaf cake
- Blood Orange Zest & Juice: This cake utilizes both the juice and zest of blood oranges to really exaggerate that punchy citrus flavor. It pays off because the end result is super refreshing & tropical! The recipe calls for 5 tbsp juice and 3 1/2 tbsp zest (total), but I went more so by the oranges than the measurement. If you use two medium-sized blood oranges like the one pictured, you will get the correct flavor. Just make sure you get the ratio right because runny glaze and dry cake are not ideal!
- Sugar: Sugar gets a unique treatment in this recipe. The blood orange zest is rubbed into it (by hand, similar to how you’d cut butter into scones) to create a uniform, zest-y mixture that will flavor the whole cake. The sugar basically “exfoliates” the zest, which releases the citrus oils and makes the whole thing this super-fragrant, super-orangey powerhouse. It has a stunning effect on the finished loaf and I thought it was a really interesting technique.
- Greek Yogurt: I can’t believe it’s not butter!. This is one of my favorite ingredients, especially for dieting, because it’s a perfect sub for butter. A serving of fat-free Greek yogurt adds lift, moisture, and a subtle tang (think buttermilk) to any baked good without the extra grease. Try it in cakes, muffins, biscuits, pizza dough, bagels… it’s an unsung hero. I use Fage Total 0%.
- Eggs: The technique behind Blood Orange Loaf Cake is similar to a lot of things I have posted. After the eggs are added, the batter gets whipped for 3 minutes or until pale, thick, and fluffy. Doing this incorporates air into the eggs and lets the cake rise to be so tall and airy. It’ll hurt your arm if you don’t have a hand or stand mixer, but it’s worth it! The moist texture goes so well with the blood orange.
This is a relatively straightforward recipe, so that’s it for ingredients & technique. Onto the process.
process for blood orange loaf cake
prep
To start off this cheery Blood Orange Loaf Cake, preheat the oven to 350°F and butter and flour the inside of a standard loaf pan. Then, whisk together the dry ingredients⏤ flour, salt, and baking powder⏤ and set aside. Once that’s done, begin zesting the oranges and add to the sugar. Rub the two together until the sugar is light orange in color and very fragrant! Your hands will smell divine.
batter
Next, beat the eggs, oil, and vanilla into the sugar. Your eggs should be room temperature to ensure that they’re able to hold the most air possible⏤ you want your loaf to have a good rise. Continue whipping the batter until it’s pale, like so, and extra fluffy. Then, working in batches, mix in the dry ingredients, Greek yogurt, and blood orange juice. Fold in the last batch of dry ingredients by hand; this gives the cake a tender crumb. You’ll eventually end up with a pink batter!
bake!
Finally, the fun part! Pour the finished batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 65-75 minutes, or until the outside is golden-brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Be careful not to overbake! After the loaf is done baking, remove it from the oven and let cool in the pan for about 20 minutes. You can prepare the glaze while you wait. Then, transfer it to a wire rack and cool for 30 more minutes. I promise, it’s worth it!
glaze ❁
Now, it’s time to drape the cake in all of that luscious, tart, berry-pink citrus icing. Drool. Drizzle the glaze over the entire surface of the cake, using a knife to spread it to any edges it doesn’t reach. The convenient thing about this glaze is that it sets fast, so this cake can be served very quickly, but you’ll have to work fast during this stage of the process. Either way, though, it will taste incredible!
And serve.
My Blood Orange Loaf Cake is truly next-level, so it’d be cruel to withhold the recipe from you for any longer. Hope you enjoy this decadent, effervescent cake as much as I do! Words cannot describe how tasty it is, so we’ll let ingredients do the talking.
recipe for blood orange loaf cake
Blood Orange Loaf Cake
Equipment
- Oven
- Loaf pan
- Hand/stand mixer or whisk
- Rubber spatula or wooden spoon
Ingredients
dry
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
wet
- 1/4 cup fresh blood orange juice from 2 medium-sized oranges
- 3 tbsp fresh blood orange zest
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- 1/3 cup oil canola, grapeseed, or vegetable will work
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup Greek yogurt I recommend 0%
glaze
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp fresh blood orange juice
- 1/2 tbsp fresh blood orange zest
- pinch salt
Instructions
cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously flour and butter a loag pan.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Pour the sugar and freshly grated blood orange zest into a large mixing bowl. Rub the zest into the sugar with your fingers until the mixture is lightly orange-tinted and fragrant. Add in the eggs, oil, and vanilla and beat, using a mixer or whisk, until the batter becomes fluffy and noticeably lighter in color, about 3 minutes.
- At low speed (or gently, if you're going by hand), incorporate half of the dry ingredients. Then, add in the Greek yogurt and fresh blood orange juice. Once they're fully mixed in, use a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to fold in the rest of the flour and baking powder.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 65-75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If the cake begins to get overly browned, cover with foil and continue baking until ready.
glaze
- For the glaze, whisk all of the ingredients together until smooth. Make sure to admire the color!
assembly
- Remove cake from oven and allow to cool in pan for 20 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, about 30 minutes. Drizzle the glaze all over the top of the cake, making sure to cover it completely. Let glaze set for 10 minutes and enjoy! Serve with fresh blood orange slices.
Notes
- Recipe from www.SoCosmopoliteen.com
- This cake is basically the definition of spring. Enjoy!
fín
That concludes today’s post! I’m off to go enjoy the spring weather and another piece of Blood Orange Loaf Cake.
Seriously, I wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true; this thing is as delicious as it is beautiful. It’s dainty, it’s flavorful, it’s exciting, and it’s tons of fun for your spring season. Make it for Easter, for Sunday brunch, or even if you’ve just got some blood oranges to use up. You won’t be disappointed! ;-))
As always, please let me know if you decide to try this recipe, and I hope you all have a great weekend! I seriously hope you enjoyed this post, and see you soon.
