I’m in super nest-y, hibernation mode. Sophie may have pulled a muscle, and until we get her checked out by a vet, we’ve been taking it slowwwww. As in chilly mornings, wrapped up in a blanket, sipping on lavender lattes (for me) and crunching on glucosamine dog biscuits (for her) while Bowie wreaks havoc, tearing socks out of dirty laundry baskets.

And I’ve been stockpiling cake recipes on Pinterest and finally put my mind to making this lovely cake from The Sweet and Simple Kitchen, with a few modifications. As my taste-testers told me, all six of them, this cake is superior to all others I’ve made. (They were only a little tipsy). So I urge you all to try it. The spice is gorgeous and with the sugar adjustment, the sweetness isn’t cloying.

Blood Orange Cardamom Cake, adapted from here

Cake
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
zest of one blood orange
2 tbsp blood orange juice
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

Blood Orange Glaze
Juice of 1 blood orange
1 1/2 – 2 cups Icing Sugar (approx – add more as needed)

Candied Blood Oranges
2 thinly sliced, washed blood oranges
Sugar

For the cake:
Preheat oven to 350. Grab a 10 inch springform pan. Butter it and lightly coat with flour. Set aside. Cream eggs, sugar and butter together. Add blood orange zest, juice and vanilla. Sift together dry ingredients. Alternate between adding the sour cream and dry ingredients into cake. Put in pan. Bake for 35-45 mins until toothpick comes out clean.

For the Orange Glaze:
SIFT powdered sugar. Stir together the two ingredients. Add a juice as you need for desire consistency, roughly like pancake batter. Don’t make it too thin, or it won’t properly glaze the cake. Err on the thicker side. Set aside. (The original recipe called for vanilla extract to be added. I did this, but my glaze turned out a bit grey. Meh. So leave it out).

For the Candied Blood Oranges:
I used the Nuwave for this. I put the sliced oranges on the 1 inch rack. Sprinkled top with sugar. Cooked for 10 mins. Flipped them. Re-sugared and cooked for another 10 mins. Watch closely as not to burn. In an oven, you lay on a cookie sheet and cook for 2 to 2.5 hours at 220.

Assembly:
Allow cake to cool COMPLETELY. Glaze. Artistically place orange slices. Serve and inhale.