blood orange loaf cake

citrus season is finally here and i could not be more excited!! as i venture deeper into the world of food photography and recipe development, its become a beloved routine of mine- waiting on seasonal favorites to make their way to the grocery stores. i’ve been on the hunt for blood oranges for a month or so. sure, there are oranges available year round, but now is when the more beautiful ones come out! as a food blogger, aesthetics matter just as much as how a dish tastes. in my opinion, you can’t ask for a more striking citrus than moro blood and cara cara oranges. they are my absolute favorite…im a sucker for pink and red citrus, i guess. as you can imagine, i was incredibly delighted to spot a whole four blood oranges a couple of weeks ago. you can bet i bought them all and felt like I had just won the lottery. 🙂 thankfully, you can now find them in abundance at most grocery stores…no hunting for you lucky ducks.

this recipe came about in a very familiar way- tweaked from several other versions of banana, pumpkin, etc. each time, figuring out what changes lead to different results. for this particular incarnation, my daughter asked to make blueberry bread. with it being the middle of winter and no good blueberries around, I had to let her know that wasn’t happening. then my mind went to the whole four blood oranges we had and after a bit of tweaking, and a few test loaves, we (she helped!) landed on this recipe. i hope you love this loaf cake just as much as we do!

a few tips…

• you can absolutely sub blood oranges with any other orange you like. if you prefer, you could even use lemon and make this a lemon loaf cake! in fact, i have a citrus loaf cake coming really soon to the blog.
• this recipe calls for a 9X5 loaf pan. this is the preferred size for this recipe, but you could also just an 8X8 or 9X9 and make bars. double the recipe and bake in a 9X13. baking times will vary of course. the top will be golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.
• freshly squeezed juice is written in the recipe. I recently bought an electronic juicer and find any and every excuse to use it. if you are pressed for time, you can use bottled juice.
• make sure your baking powder and baking soda are no older than 3 months. i know this sounds like a silly reminder, but the cake won’t lift properly without fresh lifting agents.
• this recipe calls for cake flour. this has been a recent ingredient for me and I absolutely LOVE the way my cookies and breads come out using this flour. for this recipe, you can just use all purpose in place of the cake flour. but, the texture will be denser and the cooking times, as well as the overall lift will be different. it will still be delicious, but you will have to watch the loaf carefully.
• if needed, a foil tent can be added to the top of the loaf around minute 40/45 for the remainder of the baking time.
• pour half the glaze about 5 minutes after the loaf comes out of the oven. let this set for 10 minutes. pour the remaining half of the glaze and let set while the bread cools. after 30 minutes, carefully remove the glazed bread from the loaf pan and continue to cool an additional 15-20 minutes. this ensures the glaze is completely set.
• the blood orange glaze is optional, but in my opinion totally makes the bread, so take this as “optional” but not really. plus, it adds such a beautiful pop of color!

enjoy! -megs

did you make this recipe?

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