Winter produce is my favorite. I’m not quite sure why, but there’s something homey and warm about winter produce. The best cure for the winter blues? Winter citrus! Grapefruit is amazing; I love putting it in my salads for a bright citrus note. I’ve recently discovered cara cara oranges. My local grocery store had these gorgeous oranges displayed front and center in their produce section. From the color alone, I would have guessed the orange had been spliced with a grapefruit. But surprisingly, it’s not! Cara cara is a type of navel orange with hints of blackberry. The cara cara is sweeter and less acidic than all the other oranges in the navel family. And did I mention they’re seedless? Yes, seedless!
Cara caras can be enjoyed any way you eat regular oranges. Just yesterday morning, I topped our homemade French toast with cara cara oranges for some natural sweetness. I ordered a bunch of these oranges for my weekly Imperfect delivery – Chris really likes them! It’s the first time I’ve seen him go and cut up an orange as a snack so I’m trying to keep them stocked while they’re still in season. These oranges are amazing in cakes too. Since they’re seedless, it’s so easy to juice and add it into the batter and glaze!
Cara Cara Bundt Cake
Ingredients
- Cake
- 3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
- 6 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 cups cake flour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup cara cara orange juice
- Glaze
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons cara cara orange juice
- 2 cara cara oranges, zested
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat oven to 350F and grease a 10-12 cup bundt cake pan.
- Step 2 In a stand mixer (or large bowl and hand mixer), beat butter and sugar until fluffy and pale in color.
- Step 3 Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until well-mixed before adding next egg.
- Step 4 In a bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder.
- Step 5 Add half the dry ingredients to the wet and mix gently.
- Step 6 Add orange juice and vanilla extract and mix again.
- Step 7 Add the remaining dry ingredients and stir until just combined (do not overmix!).
- Step 8 Pour batter into the greased pan and smooth out top. Tap pan on a flat surface to release any air bubbles.
- Step 9 Bake for 45 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean).
- Step 10 Cool cake completely on a cooling rack and make glaze.
- Step 11 Combine all glaze ingredients in a bowl until texture is smooth.
- Step 12 Once cake is cool, pour glaze over the top of cake.
Pro-tip: so why use cake flour instead of all-purpose flour? Is it necessary? Sometimes for me, the answer is yes. I want a tender cake and cake flour helps to achieve that pillowy texture. Cake flour already has corn starch incorporated into it, which helps to create a tender cake. You can use all-purpose flour, but always include a couple tablespoons of corn starch to help soften everything up.
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