Blood orange drizzle cake

I have to say it is all my Dad’s fault. The love of a really good roast, a penchant for saveloys and the thrill of slicing into a blood orange to see the sweet crimson flesh nestling within. He would bring them home in a big brown bag and be very reluctant to share. My Dad loved his food. He opened my eyes to the beauty of simplicity and seasonality. If he were here today he’d probably suggest we just “ate the bloody oranges instead of cooking with them!” However these juicy darlings are more available than they were in the 70’s and just one orange was sacrificed to make this cake that at least four of us will share.

I have linked this post to Ren Behan’s splendid Simple and in season round up on Fabulicious Food. Join in it’s fun.

Ingredients
3 large eggs weighed in their shells
An equal weight of  butter or margarine
An equal weight of caster sugar
An equal weight of self-raising flour
2 tablespoons milk

1 table spoon blood orange juice

crunchy topping

zest of one blood orange

2 tbsp granulated sugar

rest of the blood orange juice from the first orange half.

Icing

125g icing sugar

blood orange juice from the second half of the orange

How to….

1. Weigh the eggs in their shells and weight out equal quantities of butter, sugar and flour.
2. Zest and juice the blood/blush orange. Keep these to one side. I use a reamer as this extracts the flesh as well as the juice. The little flecks of scarlet make the icing look bejewelled.
3. Place butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat together well. Continue creaming until the butter and sugar mixture becomes paler in colour.
4. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl and add half of this beaten egg into the mixture, and stir it in well. Add in a couple of tablespoons of the flour, then the rest of the egg, and beat again.
5. Taking a metal spoon very gently fold in the rest of the flour.  Use a cutting and folding movement to combine the flour without losing any air from the mix. When all the flour is combined add in two tablespoons of milk and the tablespoon of blood orange juice.
6. Put this mix into a 11” by 7” rectangular cake tin and bake for 30/35  minutes at 190 C until firm and golden brown.
7. When cooked cool for a short while in the tin.
8. Combine together the ingredients for the crunchy topping. Pour over the warm cake and leave to cool completely before icing.
9. Add the remaining juice to the icing sugar. Add a little more icing sugar/water to make a thick cream consistency. Tip over the cake and allow to drip down the sides.
10. Devour.