Blood Orange Upside-down Cake
This dessert can be made with other orange varieties, if you prefer or if you don’t have blood oranges. If you’d rather not use alcohol, simply replace the liqueur with orange or pomegranate juice. The semolina flour and soaking syrup ensures the cake will stay moist, even after a couple of days.
INGREDIENTS
2 lemons
3 fresh blood oranges
2 c semolina flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 c Sonora flour
12 tbsp room-temperature butter
2 c sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
5 large eggs
1 tbsp orange blossom water (optional)
METHOD
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper.
2. Grate citrus and set your zest aside. Peel two of your zested oranges (the third will be used later) and cut into 1⁄4-inch-thick slabs. Arrange in a circular pattern on your parchment paper in the bottom of the springform pan. Slices should touch but not overlap.
3. Combine flours with baking powder in a bowl and whisk to combine.
4. Cream butter with 1 cup sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla and citrus zest. Fold in dry ingredients swiftly until no streaks remain.
5. Pour batter over oranges and bake for 1 hour.
6. While cake bakes, prepare syrup: melt remaining sugar in a small saucepan with 2 tablespoons of room temperature water. Juice lemon and orange and add. Bring to a simmer over low heat and continue to cook until liquid has reduced by half. Turn off heat. If using orange blossom water, add to syrup now.
7. When the cake is done, transfer to a cooling rack. Use the tip of a sharp knife to pierce the cake all over (I pierce it around 25 times). Drizzle with half the warm soaking syrup and set aside for 10 minutes to allow for syrup to soak into the cake. Invert cake onto a platter and drizzle the top with remaining syrup.