Who’s due for their fruit serving today?
I have the perfect way to get it: a single, glorious slice of cake topped with cold vanilla whipped cream.
You might want to sit down for this.
When I was very young we lived in a house with a crawl space off the garage. It felt more like a tiny attic than a crawl space because I could walk around in it. My mom stored pantry items there, things that wouldn’t spoil, and one of my earliest memories is her telling me that a six-pack of Coke bottles would be used for a pineapple upside-down cake.
I have no idea why that sentence stuck with me so clearly — where I was standing, the exact tone of her voice — but I still wonder: were Coke bottles actually used that way? Maybe she meant angel food cake and cooling it over a bottle? I should ask, but I’m currently propped on the couch, watching Gilmore Girls and feeling very lazy, so the phone call can wait.
Clearly I’ve lost my mind — that’s my earliest memory connected to an upside-down cake. I don’t think I tasted one until I was at least ten years old.
I don’t adore pineapple upside-down cake, but I don’t dislike it either. I’m pretty indifferent: I wouldn’t order it off a menu by choice, but if it were the only dessert around I might take a few bites. That, apparently, makes me a flake.
A blood orange version, however? Sign me up. Blood oranges give that vivid neon-pink color that no other citrus quite matches, and they make the cake strikingly beautiful.
Because citrus won’t caramelize the same way pineapple does, I made a blood orange syrup to drizzle on top. It’s concentrated, bright, and so good that you might want to drink it straight from a spoon. Drizzled over whipped cream and then spooned onto the cake, it elevates the whole thing.
No joke — what more do you need?
Blood Orange Upside Down Cake
Yield:
1 9-inch cake; serves about 6
1 hr 30 mins
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Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 blood oranges, thinly sliced and rind removed
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out
blood orange syrup
- 1/3 cup blood orange juice
- 1/3 cup sugar
vanilla whipped cream
- 2 cups cold heavy cream
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Spray a 9-inch round cake pan with nonstick spray.
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In a saucepan over medium heat, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Whisk in the brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and cook until the mixture begins to bubble. Remove from heat and pour into the bottom of the prepared pan. Arrange the blood orange slices in a single layer to cover the bottom.
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In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon.
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Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the 12 tablespoons room-temperature butter on medium speed until creamy. Add the sugar and increase speed to high; beat until light and fluffy, about 2–3 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla extract and scraped vanilla bean seeds.
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With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Drop dollops of batter over the arranged oranges and gently spread to cover evenly.
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Bake 35–40 minutes, until the top is golden and set. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for about 5 minutes so the fruit settles. Run a knife around the edge, invert the cake onto a plate, and rearrange any fruit if needed. Let the cake cool completely before topping with syrup and whipped cream.
blood orange syrup
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Heat the blood orange juice and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, whisking until the sugar dissolves and the mixture simmers. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature before using.
vanilla whipped cream
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Place the cold heavy cream and vanilla in the chilled bowl of a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on high until soft peaks form, then add the powdered sugar and whip until stiff peaks form. Serve alongside or dolloped on top of slices of cake with the blood orange syrup drizzled over.
Notes
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*Well, except for champagne.