For the last month or so, I’ve been seeing pictures of blood orange slices all over the place, and even though I don’t have a hankering for blood oranges by themselves, I can’t get over their color. And if you put them on a cake or a flaky tart crust, I’m so overwhelmed with beauty I can hardly stand it.

I started with a basic butter cake recipe, dialed back the butter (only a bit) and added some citrus. It’s very dense, very vanilla-y, not overly sweet, and the orange slices are all-candied and wonderful.

Unlike all the recipes I try after forgetting to bring eggs to room temperature, but I go ahead and bake and it turns out just fine, this recipe really does work better with room temperature butter and eggs (a stand mixer is also helpful, so you can dance around or slice oranges while you wait). Eggs straight from the fridge won’t allow as much air to be incorporated into the batter, which means your cake won’t grow up as much in the oven. And if you still forget to pull the eggs out of the fridge when you pull the butter out like I did, you can put them in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes. 

ingredients:
½ cup brown sugar
1 tbsp water
1-2 blood oranges, depending on size
1 cup sugar
¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 eggs, room temperature (v important)
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
¼ tsp sea salt
1 cup flour

1. Preheat oven to 350℉. Butter or spray an 8-inch cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
2. Mix the brown sugar and water together to form a thick slurry. Spread into the bottom of the prepared pan.
3. Finely zest 1 blood orange over the sugar (in the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl). Using a serrated knife, slice the orange(s) into thin slices, as thin as you can get them, and place in the bottom of the pan. Squeeze one or both of the orange butts (see above) to get about ½ tablespoon of juice.
4. Stir the sugar and zest to evenly distribute. With the paddle attachment, beat the sugar and butter until creamy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time and beat for about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides after each addition. Switch to the whisk attachment and beat another 5-7 minutes. The mixture should get lighter and fluffier.  
5. Add vanilla bean paste, orange juice and salt to the batter and mix gently.
6. Sift the flour over the batter and gently fold in.   
7. Spoon the batter over the orange slices and gently smooth the top. Bake for 40-45 minutes until a tester comes out clean and the cake springs back when lightly touched in the center.
8. Cool cake in pan for 5 minutes, then run a knife around the edge and invert onto a wire rack or a platter. Cool for a bit longer and serve warm or at room temperature.