Somewhere along the way this winter I became obsessed with blood oranges.  Every grocery store visit I would pick up a few, return home to eat 1 fresh then proceed to make something delicious with them.  This Blood Orange Cake is made with olive oil and greek yogurt making it ridiculously moist and full of flavor from the oranges.  Though I’m not a girl who cares much for the color pink, when it comes to the taste of this pink glazed cake, I can’t get enough. And Valentines Day is right around the corner so I may as well get into the spirit.

So far, in the midst of my blood orange obsession I’ve made these sweet rolls, using my sourdough starter and proceeding to cover them in sweet and tart blood orange icing, and these chicken and chickpea tacos topped with a variety of oranges and avocado slices. I still want to make an orange curd out of blood orange juice so that’s on my list as well.  And my friend Kelley has some blood orange cookies up her sleeve so I’ll be awaiting that recipe too!

Besides being Blood Orange season its also the season of Lent.  While in the past I’ve definitely participated in Lent I’m hoping to dig in a little further this year.  I’m doing a great study from SheReadsTruth during Lent so I’ll be sharing from that from time to time on the blog as well as instagram.

I’m starting the Lenten season with some time of reflection and repentance.  As I mentioned in this post, I’m far from perfect and my faults are way worse than silly spelling mistakes.  Luckily I believe in a savior who covers over all of my darkness completely like a thick glaze of blood orange icing.  I hope you’ll join me on this little journey of discovery this season.

Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake

This little loaf cake packs a lot of flavor with blood orange juice. 

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 50 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine American

Servings 8 servings

Ingredients

  

• 1 3/4 cups white whole wheat flour*
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1 cup pure cane sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup blood orange juice, about 2 small oranges
• 1 tablespoon orange zest, from about one blood orange
• 1/2 cup blood orange olive oil*

For the glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons blood orange juice

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a standard loaf pan (8 x 4).
• In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredient: flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl mix together the yogurt, sugar, eggs, juice, and zest. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add in the wet. Use a fork to incorporate the wet into the dry, just until they are mixed together but not over mixing the two. Use a spatula to fold in the oil at the end. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Place a sheet tray on a lower rack of the oven and the loaf pan the middle rack (just in case it bubbles over a little). Bake at 350 for 50 minutes.

For the glaze

• Use a whisk to mix the sugar with the juice. Let cool completely (about 1 hour) before pouring the glaze over the top.

Notes

The flour for this cake should be one of these - white whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour or all purpose flour. Regular whole wheat flour will result in a dry cake.

Blood orange olive oil may be substituted for any light olive oil with subtle flavor.