So I don’t know about all of you (but if you’re here looking at this blog I can guess), but I love me some good food photos. Recently, I couldn’t get away from this beautiful ombre citrus cake that was literally EVERYWHERE! I knew I had to come up with a recipe to get that beautiful citrus ombre topping! But, of course, I wanted to do my own thing, so this one has booze in it lol! Not to mention, this is a super duper dense cake. I’m not a ‘fluffy cake’ type of person, and I typically don’t like cakes because I find them way too sweet. This cake cuts down on the sweet factor (except for that that yummy topping), and also since you’re using Greek yogurt, lots of eggs, and almond flour, it’s super dense. But hey, this is my blog, and I do what I want haha!
You can mix and match any pretty citrus that are in season. I wish I could get some Cara Cara or Blood Oranges now, but alas, I’ll have to wait for the winter season for those. And honestly, if citrus isn’t your thing, this would also be lovely with some pineapple slices, starfruit, or peaches. So if citrus isn’t in season, or you have a lot of other fruits to get rid of, mix it up. This cake recipe is a good solid base for any ‘upside down type’ cake.
But you have been warned, this isn’t a fluffy sweet cake. It’s a dense, subtly sweet cake and it’s pretty enough to wow a crowd!
For the Glaze Topping:
- 3 T of butter
- ¼ cup of brown sugar
- 2 T of honey
- 2 T of Grand Marnier (or other orange flavored liqueur)
- Pinch of salt to taste
For the Citrus Topping:
- ½ a large grapefruit (cut into thick slices, rinds removed, and then meat of the grapefruit but into quarters,make sure to deseed as well)
- 3 navel oranges (cut into thick slices, rinds removed, and then meat of the orange but into quarters,make sure to deseed as well)
- 2 lemons (cut into thick slices, rinds removed, and then meat of the lemon but into quarters, make sure to deseed as well)
For the Cake Batter:
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1 cup of all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 T corn starch
- 4 large eggs
- ½ cup of Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup of orange juice
- 2 tsp almond extract
- 1 T Grand Marnier (or other orange flavored liqueur)
- Zest of one orange (do this to one of the oranges before you cut it up)
- Pinch of salt
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350°. In a small sauce pan on medium heat, mix all ingredients in the glaze topping together and cook until well blended. Grease an 8×8 pan and pour glaze topping evenly throughout.
For cake batter, mix together all dry ingredients until evenly combined. Whisk eggs and then mix in all other wet ingredients until well combined. Pour into dry ingredients and stir together until well combined.
On a cutting board, cut all citrus into thick (about 1/3 inch) slices. With a knife, remove all citrus rind, and with the remaining citrus flesh, quarter grapefruit and orange, and halve the lemons. Place citrus pieces close together in color order on top of glaze in pan. Once citrus is all placed together (you might have a few pieces left over depending on how big your citrus was), pour cake batter over citrus pieces slowly and carefully so that they don’t move. Lightly tap pan on hard surface to get rid of air bubbles and then place in oven on middle rack for 40-50 minutes until cake is golden brown on top and toothpick comes out clean from the center. Let cool for 30 minutes to 1 hour, then take a knife around the edges (to prevent sticking), place a large serving dish on top of the pan and then flip over. Remove pan slowly from cake, which should come out smoothly. If warm, serve with some vanilla ice cream or some citrus sorbet. Also great cold! Enjoy!
