Orange Cake with an Emphasis on Orange: Blood Orange and Olive Oil Bundt Cake

With my last blood oranges of the season, I decided to make Edd Kimber's Blood Orange and Olive Oil Bundt Cake. This recipe appealed to me because it specifically called for light olive oil, which is what I like to use for olive oil cakes (even when the recipes specify extra virgin oil) because I don't like it when cakes taste like olive oil. Plus, this recipe is stripped down to the essentials -- only five ingredients in the cake (although I had to add baking powder since I used all-purpose flour instead of self-raising), and two ingredients in the glaze.

To make the cake, you whisk sugar, orange zest, and eggs until thick and pale; pour in orange juice and oil; and whisk in flour (and baking powder if you aren't using self-raising flour). I poured the batter into a well-greased bundt pan to bake. After the cake was completely cooled, I spread on a glaze made from melted white chocolate, blood orange juice, and zest; the recipe says you should save the zest for sprinkling on at the end, but I added it into the glaze instead because I didn't want it to dry out.

I don't understand how the cake in the photo accompanying the recipe online has a white glaze, since blood orange juice is so dark and the juice turned my glaze an intense shade of mauve. In fact, I think that blood oranges are often used solely for their color, but I was delighted that the cake itself had a bright and strong orange flavor. The cake had a very tender, delicate texture that was so lovely. And I was concerned that the glaze might be too sweet, but the balance between the smooth, milky white chocolate (I used Callebaut Velvet 32%) and the tart juice was just perfect. The glaze was rich and a very good addition.

I loved this cake. The orange flavor was at the forefront, and the texture the best case scenario of what I could hope for from an olive oil cake. I was so happy to close out blood orange season with a cake that highlights the flavor of blood oranges as much as their color!

Recipe: "Blood Orange and Olive Oil Bundt Cake" by Edd Kimber, from BBC Good Food. 

Previous Posts:

• "The Lean Version: Blood Orange & Olive Oil Upside-Down Cake," May 3, 2021.
• "You Can Dislike Olive Oil and Still Love This Cake: Blood Orange and Olive Oil Upside-Down Cake," April 27, 2021.
• "Orange + Almond + Poppy Seeds: Blood Orange Loaf Cake," April 14, 2021.