Blood orange frangipane
rich / citrus
Creating things is what I love most, whether it's a lettering piece, a still life picture or a chocolate cake - it's all about making something from scratch and enjoying the results. I always love eating cake, but for me it's even better when there's a perfect balance between great flavour and a creative, artful presentation. This is exactly why one of my favourite bakers is Lily Vanilli - if you're not familiar with her cakes, have a look at her Instagram and you'll see what I mean. This recipe is a tribute to her Pink grapefruit tea cakes: I baked the rich frangipane sponge in mini loaf tins and added a sunny slice of blood orange.
1 June 2015
For 12 mini loaf tins:
- 2 or 3 blood oranges
- 150 g unsalted butter, softened
- 150 g light brown sugar
- 200 g ground almonds
- zest of 1 blood orange
- 2 eggs (M)
- 35 g plain flour
Steps
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line 12 mini loaf tins (a 12-hole cupcake tray is fine too).
Line a baking tray. Peel the blood oranges and cut them into slices of approximately 7 mm. Place them on the tray and bake for about 15 minutes. Remove, put aside and leave to cool. Leave the oven on.
Beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy, this will take a couple of minutes. Add the ground almonds, zest, eggs and flour, beat after each addition.
Spoon the batter into the prepared mini loaf tins and press a blood orange slice into the middle of each tin. Bake for 20 minutes. Allow to cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then carefully take them out and transfer to a wired rack to cool completely.
The frangipane cakes will keep for a couple of days in an airtight container.
Recipe slightly adapted from Pink grapefruit, almond and brown sugar tea cakes by Lily Vanilli, as seen in her wonderful book Sweet Tooth.
