Blood Orange and Cardamom Upside Down Cake - David Lebovitz recipe

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Blood Orange and Cardamom Upside-Down Cake
Blood Orange and Cardamom Upside Down Cake

I want to live near David Lebovitz.
And that doesn't mean he would live down the street in Los Angeles.
That means I would live in Paris.

Well, until then, I can make his ice cream and desserts. Here is an upside-down cake. Yes, I love the upside down cake (but not as much as the Bundt :)

Blood Orange and Cardamom Upside-Down Cake

Blood Orange and Cardamom Upside-Down Cake Blood Orange and Cardamom Upside-Down Cake
David's recipe uses navel oranges, but I used all blood oranges. Oh, it is lovely California citrus time. Rock on! Melt butter, brown sugar and cardamom in a 10" skillet.

Blood Orange and Cardamom Upside-Down Cake
Layer your pretty citrus on the semi-cooled brown sugar layer.

Blood Orange and Cardamom Upside-Down Cake Blood Orange and Cardamom Upside-Down Cake
The batter comes together quickly and is spread on the oranges. Bake for 40 minutes until golden.
Blood Orange and Cardamom Upside-Down Cake
On a side note, my Meyer Lemon Olive Oil cake was mentioned in the Los Angeles Times Food Section's blog, Daily Dish! How exciting is that?! And it's Thursday today Whoo hoo. Los Angeles Times Food section day.

Blood Orange and Cardamom Upside-Down Cake
Here are some other upside-down cakes:
Gingerbread Apple Upside-Down cake
Apple Upside-Down cake
Cherry Upside-Down cake
Los Angeles Times Meyer Lemon Upside-Down cake

Blood Orange and Cardamom Upside-Down Cake
P.S. It's my nephew's birthday today! 8 years old is a good year, Christian!

Recipe:
Adapted from David Lebovitz's Orange and Cardamom Upside Down Cake

Printable recipe here

David Lebovitz's recipe uses navel oranges, but he says in the notes that he has used a combo of navel and blood oranges. I only had blood oranges and used them.

Topping:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3 medium-sized navel oranges, peeled and sliced in to 1/4-inch slices (I used blood oranges. I left one unpeeled and peeled the rest of them)
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom (I used Penzy's ground cardamom spice)

Batter:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom (David's recipe calls for 1 1/2 t ground cardamom but I went for a smaller amount - personal preference)
3 ounces (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
grated zest of 1 orange

Whipped cream (I didn't serve mine with any whipped cream)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Center rack in oven.
2. In a 10-inch cast iron skillet, melt the butter and the brown sugar along with 1/2 teaspoon of cardamom until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to set.
3. Overlap the orange slices in concentric circles over the topping. Each slice should overlap the other by half. I stuck the little end pieces on the edges of the skillet.
4. In a small bowl, stir together the flour, salt, baking powder, and ground cardamom. In a measuring cup, combine the milk, vanilla and orange zest.
5. Cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and thoroughly incorporate into batter. Scrap down sides of bowl as needed.
6. Stir in half of the dry ingredients, then the milk mixture. Mix in the remaining dry ingredients until just combined.
7. Pour batter over the oranges, even out with a spatula or knife and bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
8. Allow the cake to cool for 15 minutes. Very carefully flip onto serving platter.
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34 comments:

Pam said... [Reply to comment]

Oh, wonderful! Another cardamom recipe! I love blood oranges and I bet this is as close to perfect as you can get! Your photos are amazing! Very good! Thanks for the recipe!

Unknown said... [Reply to comment]

Lovely California citrus time indeed...and no one does citrus better than you, with a little help from DL, of course! Beautiful.

Trendsetters said... [Reply to comment]

wow..looks tasty and tempting to dig in

Maria said... [Reply to comment]

The cake is gorgeous. I love the deep color of the blood oranges!

Fathima said... [Reply to comment]

I have tried upside down cake w/pineapple... the color of this one more inviting and love the idea of adding cardamom..

Susan C said... [Reply to comment]

In some of the pics, it looks like the oranges have peels. In others, they look peel-less. Do you use both?

And do you have any tips for creating such uniform orange slices? Mine are often thick on one side, thin on the other.

iga@thedelishdish said... [Reply to comment]

this cake is stunning!! the blood oranges really stand out. too bad i dont have a cast iron skillet...i wonder if i could make it in a different pan?
congrats on being in the LATimes as well!

The Food Librarian said... [Reply to comment]

Hey Susan C,
Yes, I used both. One was unpeeled and the rest were peeled (about 4 medium-small oranges total). Also, a very very sharp knife helps cut slices evenly...dull knifes will make you work more and that will allow the citrus to move and wiggle. The last slice is often the hardest to cut b/c you don't have much to hold onto...I'll usually put the citrus between my fingers (holding your hand in a "C" form) and slice between...or I ditch the last slide and just eat it. :) - mary

The Food Librarian said... [Reply to comment]

Iga@thedelishdish,
I think you can easily make this in a 10" or 9" cake pan. (Be careful in a 9" pan that you don't put too much batter. That happened to me on the gingerbread upside cake). Just melt the butter, brownsugar and cardamom in a pan and quickly pour it into the cake pan. You don't need to caramelize it...just melt it til smooth. Let it rest to set up and continue on with the rest of the recipe. - mary

kirbie said... [Reply to comment]

Oh, this is so pretty. I recently bought some blood oranges and have been trying to decide what to do with them. I already made a blood orange topped cake, but this one upside down one looks yummy too.

Barbara Bakes said... [Reply to comment]

This is so pretty! Makes me want to hunt for some blood oranges!

Sook said... [Reply to comment]

So beautiful!

Federica Simoni said... [Reply to comment]

le foto sono meravigliose..e la torta super!!

Judy said... [Reply to comment]

Gorgeous! I love blood oranges -- I'll have to see if any are remaining on my tree and give this a try.

steph- whisk/spoon said... [Reply to comment]

that looks glorious! and i bet it tasted that way, too!

Mary said... [Reply to comment]

Did it taste as good as it looked? I want to meet DL too.....we will have to do the Paris Trip to see him when either you or I win the lottery :). If you win first, I also want a pony and a starbucks franchise.

Talita said... [Reply to comment]

What a beautiful cake! I don't like blood orange, but I've never tried it in a cake. Looks yummy.

Nutmeg Nanny said... [Reply to comment]

What a beautiful looking cake!

Patricia @ ButterYum said... [Reply to comment]

What a stunning cake. Looks divine!

:)
ButterYum

Treehouse Chef said... [Reply to comment]

This looks delicious and so pretty! Very unique spin on a great recipe.

Liz said... [Reply to comment]

Congrats on the LA Times mention! That's big leagues, lady.

This cake has so many of my favorite things--blood oranges, cardamom, easiness-that I'm going to add it to the queue. :)

Mr. P said... [Reply to comment]

OMG Mary.

You know sometimes I admit that I skip through my fave blogs and just appreciate the photos and think that I wouldn't really actually want to eat what has been made. But not today. I want this!

And you blood oranges. The ones I made marmalade with were fakers. There should be laws against that.

grace said... [Reply to comment]

mary, this is undoubtedly the most gorgeous upside down cake i've ever seen. period. the end. excellent execution of a unique recipe!

Mary said... [Reply to comment]

That's a beautiful-looking cake, and with cardamom too--what a bonus! I've had my eye on that recipe for a while, and now I definitely know it's time to do something about it.

Xiaolu @ 6 Bittersweets said... [Reply to comment]

What a great way to show off the gorgeous colors of blood oranges. Thanks for the recipe!

DailyChef said... [Reply to comment]

What an amazing color for the cake. I love blood oranges - they're so distinctive. Thanks so much for sharing this!

Eliana said... [Reply to comment]

Hmmmm - blood oranges are so amazing. They are my favorite orange and this cake could become my favorite cake :)

vibi said... [Reply to comment]

This is beautiful Mary... looks like batik! Must have been super tasty too!

Rachel said... [Reply to comment]

Gorgeous! And congrats on the LA Times mention--that's amazing!!!

Wendy said... [Reply to comment]

That looks delicious! I want to start baking now.... except it's 10 pm here in the UK and it's been a long day. Tomorrow, though.. I shall bake!

kimberleyblue said... [Reply to comment]

What a beautiful cake. That flavour combo, orange and cardamom, sounds like it would be wonderfully matched.

I see nothing that could be wrong with this cake!

Unknown said... [Reply to comment]

Oh, I spent the whole weekend making all things blood orange: a b/o pork marinade, a b/o jelly with grand marnier cream, a tart with b/o curd, a spice b/o and banana quick bread. I indulged while the season is here--and now I see this beauty? Back to the co-op, back to the oven...It's really lovely and sounds just delicious!

Trevor Sis Boom said... [Reply to comment]

Hi Mary, I made your lovely cake and blogged about it here: http://www.sisboomblog.com/2010/03/nu-yir-with-blood-orange-cardamom-cake.html

Thanks for the constant inspiration!!!

glutwin said... [Reply to comment]

I made this tonight and it was spectacular! You are so very right to emphasize that the butter, sugar and cardamom only need to MELT and blend together rather than pushing it to a caramelisation point...this will only cause the caramel to release less efficiently when turning out the cake at the end. My caramel stuck a bit...but I "recovered" the stuck toffee with a couple of tablespoons of blood orange juice and a tablespoon of rum (I would have used Grand Marnier or if I had it!)and it recovered its "pourability" immediately. I then topped the cake with this remaining mixture and it firmed up and turned out beautifully! Thank you for sharing such a winning and truly delicious recipe...This one is being added to our definitive list of family cakes!

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