This cake is based on Diana Henry's lemon and ricotta cake, but I took advantage of the tail-end of the blood orange season to give it a rosier hue. Instead of the grated zest of four lemons and juice of three, I used the zest of one lemon and two blood oranges, and the juice of two blood oranges. I also added a handful of candied mixed peel to the batter.I didn't do the citrus fruits in lemon-thyme syrup because I was sending the cake into work with Paul, and they seem to have a hard enough time finding a knife and napkins without confusing them with accompaniments.
But I did want it to look a bit special (partly because the very moist cake collapsed a little bit in the middle, so it needed more than just a dusting of icing sugar). I candied some orange zest julienne and made a glacé icing with the juice of another blood orange as the liquid. It made an unexpectedly lurid pink icing...
Paul says that everyone was too busy eating to give a detailed critique, but he thought it was good. Which is good enough for me, so this is my contribution to this week's I Heart Cooking Clubs potluck.
13 comments:
Wow! I love ricotta cake! :)
That is an unexpected colour of icing! Were the oranges very dark?
It sounds delicious - shame you didn't get to try any.
Your cake looks lovely, and sounds delicious with citrus and ricotta! I have not seen blood oranges over here before, something that I have been keeping an eye for, in ages!
Love blood orange - and it certainly does add a lot of colour! It's been a while since I last made ricotta cake, which I remember to be fabulous. I should do it again.
Did you take a photo of the orange juice? That icing colour is unbelievable.
Joyce - me too! Such a lovely texture.
Suelle - not so dark to make this expected! They were streaky like the ones I did with the rice pudding.
Joyce - the season is very short.
Leafy - you definitely should!
Mother - sadly not! But about the same as on the rice pudding.
I love a fearless cook! Looks like this departure from the traditonal recipe worked out just fine! That pink tinge really plays on the deep red of the blood orange! Those oranges are areal treat in our house. They only come around for about two weeks in the late winter ... and are snapped up pretty quickly! Lucky folks at your husband's workplace! The cake looks delish!
"Too busy eating" to comment sounds like it was a big hit! I'm sure I would have the same reaction - it sounds delicious.
I'm so glad to see you are making the most of blood oranges while they're in season. I bet this cake was wonderfully moist. I love the pink icing:)
super pretty! i'm such a girl--i try to resist it, but i can't help but love pink! :)
With all the wonderful ingredients, how can this dessert be anything other than delicious? This seems to grow on me as I look at its unusual color.
I love the icing color and the candied orange on top. Very festive and it would stand out in a crowd of desserts. ;-)
I love a citrus cake of any description, and this sounds especially appealing. Can't wait for blood orange season here now. Love the colour of the icing too :-)
Post a Comment