Blood Orange and Fennel Bundt Cake

Fun fact: I never heard of blood oranges until I saw the opening of Dexter and I googled it. I am slow on the blood orange train, but let me tell you, I am here for it! Its blood orange season in the SF Bay Area and the farmer’s markets are now well stocked! I recently had a citrus and fennel salad and loved how the fennel brought out the sweetness in the tart and slightly bitter blood orange. SO GOOD! I thought it would make for a phenomenal dessert and made this bundt cake! 

I also came across some pink lemons (in my Imperfect Produce box!) and used a couple of them in this recipe. They have a floral and are less tart than regular lemons, similar to Meyer lemons, which you can use as a substitute since I know pink lemons are hard to come by. P.S you should save the peels of the lemons and blood oranges to make candied citrus peels!

I think this is the perfect tea time cake! The cake itself isn’t that sweet, so the addition of the blood orange icing doesn’t make this bundt cake too sweet. I loved how bright and floral the cake turned out – a great way to welcome spring…once it decides to show up. (it’s snowing all over America right now…). The mini bundt cakes ended up being breakfast (and sometimes lunch) for me for the week.

Sometimes all you need is a little bit of spice to take a cake up a notch. Also, check out my IG stories to see my step by step video for the cake!

Blood Orange and Fennel Bundt Cake

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• Total Time: 55 minutes
• Yield: 6 mini bundt cakes or 1 large bundtcake 1x

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Ingredients

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• 1 cup cake flour*
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground fennel powder
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tbsp blood orange zest
• 1/2 tbsp Meyer lemon zest
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup blood orange juice
• 1/4 cup meyer lemon juice

Blood Orange Icing

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp blood orange juice

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Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F. Grease bundt cake pan well with butter. Set aside.
2. Add cake flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt ,and ground fennel into a mixing bowl. Whisk well and set aside.
3. To a separate large mixing bowl, add sugar, blood orange zest, and Meyer lemon zest. Use your fingers to rub the zest into the sugar until the sugar turns a pale yellow.
4. Add eggs, yogurt, olive oil, vanilla extract, blood orange juice, and Meyer lemon juice. Whisk until it is well combined.
5. Add the dry ingredients and whisk until the batter just comes together. There might be a few small lumps, that’s ok!
6. Pour the batter into the bundt cake pan. If you’re using a mini-bundt cake pan like me , fill each mold until it is 3/4 of the way full.
7. Bake for 30 minutes if using a mini bundt cake pan or 40 – 45 minutes if using a large bundt cake pan or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
8. Once the cake is done, let it cool for 10 minutes then turn the cakes out of the pan. Cool completely on a rack.
9. Make the blood orange icing by whisking the icing sugar and blood orange juice until it becomes a smooth, thick icing. Spoon the icing on top of each cooled bundt cake and let it set for 15 minutes. Enjoy!

Notes

*if you don’t have cake flour, you can just use a total of 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 40 minutes

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