It's Citrus Season!
Brighten up your winter day with a slice, or two, of blood orange cardamom cake
Hello Foodie Friends!
Lisa here, chiming in from a very grey, overcast Seattle. Even though it’s looking really bleak outside, I can’t tell you how excited I am to turn the page to a new month tomorrow. See you later, January! You’ve been long, exhausting, trying and I can honestly say I’m not going to miss you one bit. I have a feeling we’re all done with January, right?
Snow is in the forecast this weekend, but, being that it’s Seattle, I’ll believe it when I see it….lol. It’s weekends like this my empty nester heart misses having my kids home. When they were growing up, it’s a weekend we would have packed up the car and headed up to the mountain to ski. I’d stick to the blueish-green hills while they’d explore the longer tougher runs. My husband would be our ski valet, making sure the hot cocoa supply was at the ready, along with cozy warm sweaters, and the car heat on high as we piled, exhausted, into the car at the end of the day. There’s no better kind of exhaustion, than at the end of a ski day.
Anywho…..back to present day…..the threat of a winter storm prompted me to leave my cozy house yesterday (always hard to motivate when it’s freezing outside!). I popped into my local Trader Joe’s and PCC (a co-op that’s a smaller, fresher, higher quality version of Whole Foods), and walked out with 4 different varieties of oranges and a very large bag of gorgeous lemons.
YAY….. it’s citrus season!!
I love that citrus season falls in the dead of winter, when it’s cold and gloomy outside. Pops of colorful orange and yellow fill the produce section and give us a promise that winter won’t last forever.
Give me all the satsumas, blood oranges, clementines, meyer lemons, navel oranges, and mandarin oranges!!
To celebrate citrus season, I thought it would be fun to share one of my all time favorite cakes — a blood orange cardamom cake. The sweetness of the blood orange is balanced with the warm spice of the cardamom, and makes this the perfect not-to-sweet cake for dessert, snacking, breakfast…..or to enjoy after a long day of skiing!
Here are a few of my favorite oranges and lemons and 5 tips on what to do with them (beyond just using their tangy, puckery juice)
Meyer Lemons - ohhhh how I love a Meyer lemon! Much sweeter than a regular lemon, so they lend themselves especially well to desserts. Grab some Meyer lemons and make lemon curd, lemon posset (a UK dessert that’s like the US version of a lemon pudding, but, in my opinion, so much better), lemon bars and lemon pie.
Blood Oranges — their vibrant red/orange color gives a gorgeous color pop to salads (blood orange segments + roasted beets + arugula + toasted hazelnuts = a perfect winter salad), salad dressings, cocktails, mocktails, and pound cake.
Sumo Oranges - known for their distinctive top knot and dimpled skin, they’re incredibly easy to peel (always a bonus when it comes to oranges) and sweet. I love these for an afternoon snack.
Yuzu - these Japanese oranges pack a complex citrus punch with notes of floral, lime and grapefruit, they’re sour with a bit of sweetness. You can find them at an Asian market, or look for them at your local farmer’s markets. I love using it in lemon curd, salad dressing and any time a dish needs a hit of acid to brighten up the flavor.
Kumquats - if you love sour, you’ll love these! They pack a ton of tart flavor in a tiny little package. You eat the whole thing, skin and all. I personally love them candied and popped in a cocktail.
TIP #1 — Pick heavy fruit. The weight of the fruit in your hand will tell you how much juice is inside. If you want a juicy citrus, pick the one that is heavy.
TIP #2 - Grill it. To create a gorgeous deep smokey flavor, cut your lemons, oranges and grapefruits in half and grill them. You can also slice them or cut them into wedges and then grill them. Squeeze that juice out and use in cocktails, mocktails, and salad dressings. Put the grilled slices or wedges in cocktails and mocktails as fun garnishes.
Tip #3 - Nestle them into your cast iron pan. The next time you’re cooking chicken or salmon in your cast iron pan or skillet, nestle in quartered lemons. They’ll cook and break down into a jammy consistency which deepens the flavor. Then squeeze over your cooked dinner and you’ll have an extra lemony pop of flavor!
Tip #4 — Candy the peel. Peel oranges (or lemons) and cook the peel in boiling water. Remove and add to simple syrup, then toss with sugar and let dry out. Gorgeous decorations for all your baked goods — scones, cakes, cupcakes, pound cake….
Tip #5 — Make jam or marmalade. Jane is the expert on this and has written about making jam in other newsletters. She shared a scrumptious recipe for Satsuma, Lime and Lemon Marmalade in a past newsletter — click below to read it (it’s a free post for everyone)……
Thanks so much for being here! Jane and I love building this community and are cooking up (ugh….such a subtle pun….lol!) some fun things in 2025 and can’t wait to share with you!
xo
Lisa and Jane
Blood Orange Cardamom Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
zest of one blood orange (about 1 1/2 tbsp)
2 tablespoons blood orange juice
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
cardamom (depending on how spicy you want the cake, I usually use 3/4 teaspoon)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
Blood Orange Glaze:
Juice of 1 blood orange (minus the 2 tbsp you use for the cake)
a few drops vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups - 2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 10 inch cake pan.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugars and orange zest until pale and fluffy. This usually takes about 5 minutes. If you have a stand mixer, this is a good time to pull it out — I find it’s much easier than a hand mixer because it does take a few minutes to make sure the texture of the butter is light and fluffy.
Add in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of your bowl with a spatula and add vanilla extract and orange juice. Beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and cardamom until combined. Add in 1/3 of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix on low to just combine. Add in 1/2 of the sour cream and mix until just combined.
Repeat this process with the remaining flour and sour cream ending with the last 1/3 of flour mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula and beat on low speed until there are no lumps in your batter, but don’t over-mix. I usually only mix for another 1-2 minutes.
Pour batter into prepared cake pan and place on the center rack of your oven to bake for 35-45 minutes or until the center of the cake is set to the touch or a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the center.
Remove from oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes in the pan before turning out onto a wire rack and allowing to cool completely to room temperature.
Meanwhile prepare your glaze.
In a glass measuring pitcher, whisk together orange juice, vanilla and powdered sugar until smooth and creamy. You want it to be a thick, yet pourable consistency. If you need to add a bit more orange juice, add a teaspoon at a time.
Once your cake is cooled completely pour glaze on the top of the cake and allow glaze to drip over the edges. Decorate with dried blood orange slices.
Dried Blood Oranges:
Preheat oven to 220F degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Thinly slice 1-2 blood oranges (depending on how many slices you want) and lay them on the parchment paper. Generously dust each slice with powdered sugar, flip and repeat. Bake for about 2- 2 1/2 hours or until dried out. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before decorating your cake.