Healthy Blood Orange Cake

This cake is not only great for dessert but also makes a wonderful guilt free breakfast on the go. It’s dairy free, gluten free, contains no oil and is refined sugar-free (if you skip the glaze). On top of all that, the entire cake is made in the food processor/ blender so is super easy! The dehydrated blood oranges are completely optional and are just there for presentation, so feel free to save some time and skip that step altogether. I used blood oranges for the sweet taste and beautiful colour but you can use regular navel oranges as well.

Healthy Blood Orange Cake

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 3 hours
Total time: 3 hours, 15 minutes
Yield: Serves 8

INGREDIENTS           

For the Dehydrated Blood Oranges (Optional)

• 1 blood orange

• 2 tbsp. icing sugar
  
  

For the Glaze (Optional)

• Juice of 1 blood orange

• 1 ½ cups icing sugar (or more if it’s too runny)
  
  

For the Blood Orange Cake

• 2 blood oranges

• 4 eggs

• ⅓ cup honey

• Splash vanilla

• 1 tsp. baking powder

• pinch of salt

• ¾ tsp. cardamom

• 2 ¼ cups almond meal

DIRECTIONS

To make the dehydrated blood oranges:

Preheat oven to 220F.

Slice the blood orange into thin rounds. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Generously dust with icing sugar, flip and repeat. Bake for 2 hours, then remove from oven and let cool completely.

To make the cake:

Preheat oven to 325F

Boil 2 whole blood oranges on the stovetop for 1 hour. Drain water and let cool before handling. Cut into quarters and place in food processor or blender. These are being blended whole so do not worry about removing the rind or the seeds! Pulse until smooth.

Add in eggs, honey and vanilla and continue to blend until combined.

Add baking powder, salt, cardamom and almond meal and pulse again until smooth.

Grease a 23cm round cake pan and line it with parchment paper. Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 55 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes before serving. I actually prefer this cake cold from the fridge!

If you are going to glaze your cake then whisk together the icing sugar and blood orange juice until smooth. Flip the cake onto a cooling rack placed atop some wax paper or paper towel for easy cleanup when the glaze inevitably drips over the sides of the cake and onto the counter. Pour the glaze over the cake, decorate with dehydrated blood oranges and enjoy!