Blood Orange & Turmeric Cake

This recipe uses the whole oranges – the zest, the pith and the fruit itself. They’re sliced and simmered until tender, then pureed. This gives the cake an amazing depth of flavour and makes for a very moist crumb. A perfect way to celebrate on a sunny weekend!

INGREDIENTS

For blood orange puree

• 3 medium blood oranges washed well and sliced into 6mm rounds
• 500ml water

For cake

• 1 blood orange, sliced into 3-4mm rounds
• 500ml blood orange puree
• 115g butter, melted
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 195g plain flour
• 200g granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt

For blood orange drizzle

• Juice of 1½ blood oranges
• ½ tsp Turmeric Dry Extract
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• 85g caster sugar

METHOD

1. Bring sliced blood oranges and water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Cover, turn heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes. Carefully transfer to blender and let cool 10 minutes. Blend on high power until completely smooth. Measure out 500ml of the puree. Any leftover puree can be repurposed – blood orange and turmeric smoothie perhaps?). There won't be much though.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Grease and flour a 23cm round springform tin and line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper.
3. In a large bowl, combine 500ml of the blood orange puree with the melted butter and egg. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Pour the orange mixture into the flour mixture and gently fold together with a rubber spatula until just combined.
4. In the bottom of the springform tin, arrange the blood orange slices evenly to cover as much of it as possible. It’s okay for the slices to overlap! Spoon in the cake mixture and level the top with a spatula.
5. Bake in centre of oven for about 40 minutes, or until centre feels a bit bouncy when lightly pressed. Let cool a few minutes in pan, then invert onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
6. Next, mix together the turmeric extract with a small amount of juice from the blood oranges to completely dissolve the powder. Add the remaining juice from the blood oranges, the caster sugar and pinch of cayenne and stir over a low heat to dissolve the sugar and make the drizzle.
7. Prick the warm cake all over with a skewer or fork, then pour over the drizzle.