Citrus Olive Oil Cake for Pixie Month

An ultra-flexible, ultra-delicious tribute to the season.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I’m working on a project with the Ojai Valley Museum: a series of interviews to inform a forthcoming exhibit about the past and future of agriculture in Ojai.

So, over the past twelve weeks, I’ve spent a great deal of time chatting with farmers and farmworkers. I’ve also sharpened my citrus palette.

One thing you may or may not know about me is that I love to bake. It’s a longtime hobby that was supercharged during the pandemic. I’ve become very passionate about local, seasonal, organic food.

So, inspired by local citrus, I hunted around for a cake recipe, arriving at this Orange Upside Down Cake recipe from Broma Bakery. I modified it a bit — my modifications are reflected in the ingredients list/instructions below. And readers, it turned out SO GOOD that I wanted to share it with you. At this point, I’ve made this with tangerines, blood oranges, navels, even mulberries! It’s a very forgiving recipe that’s fun to experiment with.

Variations on the citrus upside down cake: including page tangerines, blood oranges, navel oranges, and mulberry—lemon.

If you make this, please let me know how it turns out in the comments.

Happy (almost) Pixie Month!

Andra

CITRUS OLIVE OIL UPSIDE DOWN CAKE (adapted from Broma Bakery recipe)

INGREDIENTS

For The Topping

7-10 tangerines or 4-6 blood oranges or 4-5 navel oranges (truly — I haven’t found any citrus that doesn’t work with this recipe. I’ve used berries, too.)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup citrus juice (my preference is blood orange juice for color, if you have it. Orange juice works just as well.)

For The Cake

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 tsp - 1 tbsp of citrus zest (original recipe calls for “a pinch” — I like it zesty)

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract (or almond extract if you want to enhance the almond flavor!)

1 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 cup almond flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9-inch cake pan with a circle of parchment paper. (Trace the circle of the pan with a pencil on parchment, cut out.) Butter or oil the pan.

2. With the skin still on, slice the citrus in 1/4 inch slices. Use a sharp paring knife or pair of scissors to carefully remove the skin from the citrus slices, cutting off the outer ring. Doing it this way will ensure your citrus stays intact and does not break apart when you slice it. Remove the pith (white part) from the center using a fork, if necessary.

   

   Sliced blood oranges, with and without pith.

3. Microwave the sugar and juice together until the sugar dissolves completely, about 1 minute. Pour half of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared cake pan, then line the bottom with prepared citrus slices. Once arranged, pour the remaining liquid over the citrus. Set aside.

   

   Blood orange slices arranged on top of a circle of parchment paper, topped with juice mixed with sugar.

4. In a stand mixer on medium speed, beat the sugar, citrus zest, and eggs together until pale yellow, about 1 minute. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can also do this by hand with a whisk.

5. Keep the mixer going at a medium-low speed, slowly streaming in the olive oil to emulsify. Make sure you go slowly to prevent the batter from splitting. Add in the vanilla extract and mix well.

6. Add the dry ingredients (all purpose flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt) and stir until just combined. Do not over mix.

7. Carefully pour the batter over the sliced citrus into your prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes or until the cake is a lightly golden brown and a knife inserted into the middle comes out mostly clean. If you think it’s done before 40 minutes — it’s not.

8. Allow the cake to cool for 10-15 mins. Use a butter knife to ensure cake isn’t stuck to the sides of the pan. Flip upside down to turn out the cake onto a large plate. Peel the parchment paper away from the citrus. Allow to cool for at least one full hour before and serving. :)

The final product. Beautiful!