Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake And The Marmalade That Isn't

Before you groan at yet another marmalade post, let me first begin by telling you that it was not the success I had hoped for. If I’ve learn anything in the last thirty-odd years, failure makes good stories. At the very least, good lessons. Or if I’m lucky, good inspirations.

I wanted to end my winter preserving season on a high note with a batch of garnet-hue blood orange marmalade. I consulted a number of recipes including the authority of confitures, Christine Ferber. What strike me as interesting was the need for green apple pectin stock or in other recipes, commercial pectin. The reason is clear as soon as I cut open a blood orange. It is juicy, sweet, and absolutely devoid of any seeds! What makes them wonderful as an eating orange is challenging for jam-making. I scoff at commercial pectin and I lack the patience to make my own green apple pectin stock. Grandmothers have been making jams and marmalades for ages and they didn’t use recipe so why can’t I? I decided to wing it (bad move) by adding the core and peel of an apple to the mix of 1:1 fruit and sugar. Apparently, that was still not enough. My marmalade fails to gel and I am now left with four delicious jars of blood orange compote/sauce.

Just because it is not toast-worthy doesn’t mean my blood orange compote is a waste of time and ingredient. I made a loaf of Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake from Melissa Clark’s In The Kitchen With A Good Appetite (recipe is available at New York Times and smitten kitchen made it too!). My compote was the perfect consistency to glaze the cake. I cannot imagine a better pairing! The cake is a makeover of the classic French yogurt cake. Instead of yogurt, it was made with a mix of blood orange juice and buttermilk. The orange zest perfumed the cake with its citrusy freshness and extra virgin olive oil lent a pale green colour and fruity taste to the crumb. The ruby segments of blood orange scattered throughout the cake looked particularly festive to me. The slivers of candied peel in my glaze added yet another dimension to the blood orange theme. This is what I call a perfect slice of tea cake.

The thing about loaf cake is that it can be a bit casual. This cake, however, inspires me to take it to a slightly fancier direction. It would be delightful toasted and served with vanilla ice-cream (ooooo creamsicle!) with some more blood orange sauce spooned over fresh blood orange segments.

Do you know that today is Lunar New Year? Red is an auspicious colour and that was why I chose to make this cake. Around this time of year, Chinese media is packed with cheesy photos of celebrities dressed in traditional outfits posing with new year tableau of flower arrangements, mandarins, kumquats, red envelop, and what not. Although I am not a celebrity, I want to join in the fray so I took a self portrait following these fine traditions. I wish you all a prosperous year and may the year of the hare bring you lots of good eats!

Comments

[yummychunklet]

Cake looks great!

[Jorie]

Happy new year!Your Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake looks like it'll welcome the new year deliciously.

[Cakewhiz]

Happy new year! That is a lovely cake. I like how you used olive oil...makes it healthier :)

[DessertByCandy]

Thank you! I wished I made something more traditional but this cake is delicious enough to make up for it.