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Side view of blood orange cardamom cake on marble cake stand

Blood Orange Cardamom Cake

Insanely delicious cake that has the sweetness of blood orange, combined with the spice of cardamom. A perfect cake for any special occasion, for an afternoon snack or a random Tuesday.
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Course: Dessert, special occasion
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings: 10

Ingredients

Cake:

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
  • zest of one blood orange (about 1 1/2 tbsp)
  • 2 tablespoon blood orange juice
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon cardamom
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Blood Orange Glaze:

  • Juice of 1-2 blood oranges (minus the 2 tbsp you use for the cake)
  • a few drops vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 – 2 cups Powdered sugar (approx – add more as needed)
  • 1-2 tablespoons whole milk

Instructions

  • Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 inch cake pan.
  • In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugars, and orange zest until pale and fluffy. This should take about 3-5 minutes. For ease, I love using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. I've found this the best way to incorporate a lot of air into the butter to create extra fluffiness.
  • Add in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of your bowl and add vanilla extract and orange juice. Beat until fluffy; 1-2 minutes.
    The mix will look a bit curdled -- that's ok! Trust the process because you're on your way to a fantastic cake!
  • In a separate medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and cardamom to combine.
  • Add in 1/3 of the flour mixture to the egg/sugar mixture, and mix on low to just combine the ingredients. Then add in 1/2 of the sour cream and mix on low until just combined. Repeat this process with the remaining flour and sour cream, ending with the last 1/3 of flour mixture.
  • Scrape down the sides of the bowl, as needed, and beat ingredients on low speed until there are no lumps in your batter, but don’t over-mix. This should only take 1-2 minutes.
  • Pour batter into prepared cake pan and place on the center rack of your oven to bake for 35-45 minutes or until the center of the cake is set to the touch or a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the center.
  • Remove from oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes in the pan before turning the cake out onto a wire rack. Allow the cake to cool completely to room temperature.
    Cooling the cake is a really important step! If you pour the glaze on a warm cake, it will melt into the cake or slide right off it.

Blood Orange Glaze:

  • In a medium bowl, whisk together orange juice, vanilla, and milk until smooth and creamy. You want it to be a thick, yet pourable consistency, similar to pancake batter.
    Once your cake is completely cooled, pour glaze on the top of the cake and allow the glaze to drip over the edges. Decorate with blood orange slices.

Notes

Pro Tips:
  • Before glazing, place parchment paper on a rimmed sheet pan.  Place the cake on a cooling rack that fits easily into the sheet pan. Then pour the glaze over the cake -- the sheet pan will catch all the extra glaze that comes off the cake (you're bound to have some and that's ok!) and will make it a much less messier process. 
  • Make sure your cake is fully cooled before adding glaze.  If your cake is warm the glaze will slide right off it......not ideal!