There’s something truly exciting about the arrival of blood oranges which are at their best in February.  Their rosy hued flesh brings a welcome bit of colour during the cold, dank days of winter. But they don’t just look lovely, they taste amazing too. A bit sweeter than normal oranges and a little less acidic, blood oranges often give a hint of raspberry or strawberry. They have a genuinely short season – they’ll be all gone by the end of March – so you need to grab them while you can.

Because they are so pretty, it’s great to use blood oranges in recipes which will showcase their gorgeous colour.  I’ve combined two favourite cakes – a straightforward citrus polenta cake and a saffron & lemon syrup cake which is an upside-down cake decorated with candied lemon slices.  The lemon syrup cake is to my taste, a little on the sweet side, so I decided to replicate the candied element with slices of the beautiful blood oranges and replace the syrup cake with the citrus polenta mix.  The blood oranges, being thinner skinned than normal oranges turned out to be perfect for candying and I used them to line the base of the (now upside down) cake with them.  What really makes the citrus polenta cake so delicious is soaking it with an orange and lemon syrup.  Usually, you soak the top of the cake, but I decided to see if it would work soaking the bottom of the cake before turning out, and it did, brilliantly.  Click here to download the recipe.

But back to the fruit.  It’s not only blood oranges that give us a reason for cheerfulness as this dreary winter drags on.  All the citrus fruits are in peak season in February, so make sure you make the most of them all.  Most citrus fruits can be had all year round, but a special shout out winter visitors such as Seville oranges, kumquats and pomelos.  Seville oranges are very tart and used to make marmalade.  If you’ve never tried to make it before, give it a go – it’s a very soothing process.  Kumquats, that look adorably like miniature oranges, are thin-skinned and very bitter and are great made into a marmalade, jam or chutney.  Finally, pomelos, the largest citrus fruit, make a visit to our shores from South East Asia.  They have extremely thick pith with segments encased with tough membranes.  With a taste a bit like a sweeter, less acidic grapefruit, the flesh within the segments is unusually dry.  They are best eaten fresh – take off the peel then remove the flesh from the tough membranes and break into pieces.  I love them added to a fresh, zingy and spicy Asian style salad with plenty of lime, coriander, mint, chilli and maybe some toasted peanuts.

 

Blood Orange Citrus Polenta Cake

Makes 8-12 portions

Ingredients

Equipment

23cm loose-bottomed or springform tin, greased with the base lined with a disc of baking parchment

For the candied oranges

2-3 Blood oranges, thinly sliced (about 2mm)

220g Caster sugar

125ml Water

For the cake

3 Egg yolks

125ml Vegetable oil (any veg oil will do – a mild olive oil would be fine)

110g Caster sugar

1 Orange, grated zest of

1 Lemon, grated zest of

100g Ground almonds

75g Polenta

¾ tsp Baking powder

20g Caster sugar

3 Egg whites

 

Method

Candied orange slices:

• Place the sugar and water in a saucepan over a low to medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally until the sugar has dissolved. Turn the heat up to medium high and add the blood orange slices and bring to the boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the peel looks semi-translucent.
• Remove the orange slices with a slotted spoon to a tray lined with baking parchment.
• Add the juice from the zested orange and lemon to the syrup, bring to the boil and boil until it thickens slightly. Remove from the heat and set aside.

The cake:

• Heat the oven to 180C
• Put the egg yolks, vegetable oil, caster sugar and orange and lemon zests in a bowl and beat until smooth and combined.
• Put the ground almonds, polenta, and baking powder in a medium-sized bowl. Add the egg yolk mixture and fold in until combined.
• Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks, then add the 20g sugar and beat until combined. Fold the whisked egg whites into the cake mixture.
• Pour into the prepared tin being careful not to displace any of the candied orange slices. Put in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes until brown on top and a skewer inserted comes out clean.
• Remove the cake from the oven and cool for about 10 minutes. Pierce the cake all over with a skewers, then slowly spoon the syrup over the cake, allowing it to sink in before adding more.
• Leave the cake to cool completely before turning out onto a serving plate.

Tips:

• If you want this cake to be gluten-free, ensure that the baking powder you use is GF
• This cake works with any citrus fruit, so you can replace the orange and lemon with limes or grapefruit
• You can flavour the cake, and the syrup, with different spices should you wish.  For instance, try adding a teaspoon of ground cardamom to the cake batter, or flavour the syrup with a teaspoon of cinnamon or ½ a teaspoon of ground spice.