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A citrus packed blood orange loaf cake topped with a tart blood orange icing. Serve a slice with a cup of your favorite tea and start dreaming about summer!

A citrus packed blood orange loaf cake topped with a tart blood orange icing. Serve a slice with a cup of your favorite tea and start dreaming about summer!

Buying blood oranges has two benefits. First you cut them open and you’re wowed because of the awesome color, and then you get to stuff them in your face. Who can ever complain about that or blood orange loaf cake?

Nobody I tell ya’!

No one would ever turn down a slice of this moist, citrusy Blood Orange Loaf Cake. I wasn’t trying to reinvent the wheel when I made this, just to take a decent lemon loaf recipe from Ina Garten and use my stash of blood oranges to replace the lemon in the recipe.

That “stash” I mentioned is actually a giant bag sized stash (15 pounds?) of blood oranges. I talked about it before when I made my Blood Orange Meringue Pie. My friends have a tree that blooms ridiculous amounts of oranges every year so be ready for a slew of recipes coming soon! I’m only halfway through them.

A citrus packed blood orange loaf cake topped with a tart blood orange icing. Serve a slice with a cup of your favorite tea and start dreaming about summer!

This is a no-frills loaf cake. You mix the batter, bake it and drench it in that crazy pink glaze which gets its color solely from the juice of the oranges. No food coloring or gels.

That’s why baking with blood oranges is so much fun. Not only does everything taste so good, It looks like summer gone wild!

A pet peeve I have is dry loaf cake, NoNoNo!

So right before you drown this one in that bright pink glaze, you need to brush it with a blood orange syrup.

A citrus packed blood orange loaf cake topped with a tart blood orange icing. Serve a slice with a cup of your favorite tea and start dreaming about summer!

Because we haven’t used enough oranges already, right?

I think you’l like this and feel free to use any  other citrus. Just switch it out for where you see blood oranges listed in the recipe.

And take a picture and slap it on Instagram tagging me. I want to see all of your baking!

A citrus packed blood orange loaf cake topped with a tart blood orange icing. Serve a slice with a cup of your favorite tea and start dreaming about summer!

 

A citrus packed blood orange loaf cake topped with a tart blood orange icing. Serve a slice with a cup of your favorite tea and start dreaming about summer!

*Recipe note*– I have listed 9 blood oranges which might seem too many. My reasoning is because blood oranges can sometimes be very small or all different sizes and by the time you use the zest and juice for this recipe, you may not have enough to sufficiently cover the loaf with decent slices. I would rather have a few too many than not enough.

Blood Orange Loaf Cake

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings: 10 people
Calories: 360kcal
Author: foodnessgracious
A citrus packed blood orange loaf cake topped with a tart blood orange icing. Cut a slice and start dreaming about summer!
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Ingredients

  • 1 stick unsalted butter at room temp
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 2 whole eggs
  • 2 tbsp blood orange zest
  • 8-9 whole blood oranges
  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 2 tbsp fresh squeezed blood orange juice
  • 1/3 cup buttermilk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 1/2 tbsp blood orange juice

For the syrup

  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 tbsp blood orange juice

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 inch x 4 inch loaf pan and line with parchment paper.
  • Using a stand mixer beat the butter and sugar until creamy.
  • Scrape down the bowl and add the eggs one at a time beating well. Add the zest and mix through.
  • Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  • In a small bowl mix together the 2 tbsp orange juice, buttermilk and vanilla.
  • Add half of the flour and half of the buttermilk mixture to the creamed batter and mix. Scrape down the bowl and repeat with the remaining flour and buttermilk mixture. Mix until well combined.
  • Transfer the batter to your prepared loaf pan and spread it out evenly.
  • Peel 2-3 blood oranges and slice into thin rounds.
  • Cover the surface of the loaf with the orange circles and place in the oven.
  • Bake for 60-70 minutes and the top springs back when gently pushed with a finger. 
  • Let cool and then mix the powdered sugar and 2 1/2 tbsp orange juice until smooth and lump free.
  • To make the syrup, combine sugar, water and juice in a pan and bring to a boil
  • Let the syrup simmer for five minutes until slightly thickened and then brush over the cake.
  • Pour the glaze over the cake and spread to cover all of it. 

Notes

Recipe slightly adapted from Ina Garten and The Food Network

Nutrition

Calories: 360kcal