Vegan Blood Orange Snack Cake
Whether you’re looking to go totally plant-based, make simple swaps that you won’t even notice (but the planet will!), or just love cake, this cake is for you. It’s delicate enough to serve after a dinner party (remember those?) but hearty enough to take a slice of from the fridge and eat it with your hands midday. No judgments.
My family is full of vegans, dairy-free folks, and steak and butter lovers alike, and while the pandemic has made it impossible to run a true test of this theory, I’m willing to bet the latter contingent wouldn’t even know this was vegan.
Use a nice fruity olive oil in the batter, and resist the urge to take the cake out of the oven to check it or poke it too much when it’s baking— the lack of eggs make it a bit more fragile until it’s fully set. If you’re making this for someone who is strictly vegan, be sure to use a vegan sugar (some are processed in a way that makes them non-vegan). To slice, use a serrated knife if you have one. You can keep the cake covered in the fridge for 2-3 days.
Recipe
Ingredients
3 medium cara cara or blood oranges
1 ¼ cup (250g) granulated sugar, divided
¼ cup (50g) olive oil
½ cup (100g) applesauce
2 tablespoons (13g) ground flax seed
2 tablespoons water
1 cup (95g) cornmeal
1 ½ cups (190g) flour
½ tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
Directions
Preheat oven to 350F and very lightly oil an 8-inch round cake pan. Cut a circle of parchment paper just slightly smaller than the inside of the pan and use your hands to smooth it down completely.
Add ¼ cup (50g) of sugar to a small bowl. Slice two of the oranges very thinly and add to the bowl with the sugar. Toss to combine.
In a medium bowl, combine the zest and juice of the last orange, the remaining 1 cup (200g) of sugar, the olive oil, applesauce, flax seed, and water and stir with a spatula to combine.
Arrange the sliced oranges in the bottom of the cake pan. It’s good if they overlap slightly, but don’t make multiple layers if they don’t all fit. Spoon any remaining liquid over the oranges.
Next, to the batter mixture, add the cornmeal, flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Give the dry ingredients a little mix before combining them fully into the batter.
Pour the batter over the oranges and bake for approximately 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then flip upside down onto a cooling rack. If the parchment has stuck to the oranges, peel it off gently. Allow to cool completely before serving.
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