Blood Orange Upside-Down Cake
One 9-inch cake
Ingredients:
8 ounces plus 3 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
2 tsp lemon or lime juice (I prefer lemon)
2 or 3 medium-sized blood oranges
¾ cup finely ground cornmeal
¼ cup hazelnut or almond flour
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
½ tsp table salt
1 cup white sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla paste
1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees with the rack in the middle position.
2) Lightly toast the cornmeal in a non-stick sauté pan until starting to brown and smells like popcorn. Pour the toasted cornmeal into a medium bowl to cool.
3) Lightly spray a 9” cake tin with cooking spray and line with a 9” circle of parchment paper.
4) In a sauté pan, melt the 3 Tbsp of butter and stir in the brown sugar and juice and stir until sugar melts and the mix is smooth. Pour the butter mix into the cake pan.
5) Add the nut flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, five-spice and salt to the cornmeal and whisk to combine.
6) Zest one of the blood oranges and whisk the zest into the dry mix. Cut the skin and pith from the 2-3 oranges and slice them into ¼” wheels. Arrange the wheels in a single layer on top of the butter mixture in the cake pan. Fill the bottom of the pan, but don’t overlap.
7) Cream the 8 ounces of unsalted butter with the white sugar (about 3-4 minutes in a standing mixer) and add the eggs one at a time. Add the buttermilk and vanilla paste.
8) On low, slowly add the dry mix and beat until smooth.
9) Lightly pour the batter over the orange wheels, slowly, so you don’t move the wheels.
10) Bake for 45-50 minutes, until an inserted wooden skewer comes out clean.
11) Cool the cake ten minutes on a rack and then invert onto your serving plate. Gently remove the parchment paper.
12) Serve with whipped cream or homemade vanilla ice cream.
