Blood Orange Loaf & Girlhouse

Citrus season is arguably, the best season. Right as winter is making you want to crawl out of your skin (at least here in NYC), you get access to the juiciest, ripest citrus babies to remind you warmer weather is on the horizon. Blood oranges are particularly the best this time of year, and I try to bake everything with them for a few weeks. Enter: this cake. It’s infused with blood orange syrup to help keep it moist/dense, and then topped with a glaze that’s infused with blood orange zest. I’ve also used crushed almonds into the flour to keep it lighter.

Amongst citrus season, my next obsession has been Girlhouse. I found ‘Knuckle Tattoo’ last year and I have been hooked since. Heavy, crunchy guitars and a vocal fry woven with the right amount of sass, Lauren had me hooked from the start with her newest project. I’ll shut up — you can listen to the song, below, and you can read on to see how this blood orange loaf is made. Remember you can watch the TikTok video for it, as well!

Happy baking/listening. xo-

ORANGE LOAF:

1/2 cup butter /

1 cup granulated sugar /

2 large eggs /

1/2 cup milk (any) /

1  1/2 cups all-purpose flour /

1/4 cup ground almonds /

1 teaspoon baking powder /

1/2 teaspoon salt /

4 blood oranges /

BLOOD ORANGE SYRUP:

3/4 cup blood orange juice

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

GLAZE:

3 tablespoons of blood orange juice /

2 tablespoons melted butter /

1/2 cup powdered sugar /

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a 9x5 loaf pan, and set aside.

In a large bowl (or stand mixer - which is what I used), cream together butter and sugar on medium speed (either with the stand mixer or hand mixer) until light and fluffy.  Add in eggs, one at a time, and mix until combined.  Add in milk, mixing slowly.

In a different bowl, add flour, ground almonds, baking powder, salt, and blood orange zest.  Gradually add dry ingredients to the wet, and mix until just combined. 

Pour batter into greased loaf pan, and bake for 40-50 minutes. I used a toothpick to then see if it came out clean - mine took around 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan. While it cools, prepare the blood orange glaze (throw all those ingredients into a sauce pan and combine until it’s slightly thick, on medium high. Don’t stop stirring!). Once you remove from pan, poke holes into the cake and pour in the blood orange glaze on top.

Prepare blood orange glaze and pour over loaf.  I then topped mine with blood oranges, shaved almonds and thyme leaves for decor — but you can literally just eat this with the glaze.