Orange and Rose Blossom Cake

March Cooking By Color – Orange

Today’s recipe features the most orange fruit of them all: the orange! I really wanted to do a dessert for you because it’s been forever. Orange juice and zest really lends itself to cakes, cupcakes, muffins, pastries and desserts of any kind in my book. Many years ago rose water was popular in baked goods so I bought some and haven’t touched it since. So out it came from the pantry to make this delicious cake.

One of my favorite types of cakes are upside down cakes with a sweet, fruity topping. I figured thinly sliced oranges and rose water would go perfectly for the topping paired with an orange cake. This was a total experiment; I had no idea if this was going to turn out alright but it did! I was really happy with the results! There’s just enough sweetener in the topping to perfectly balance the tartness of the orange slices. And the rose water…so lovely! But make sure you slice that orange super, paper thin for the topping.

If you don’t already know this about me my favorite granulated sweetener is coconut palm sugar. It’s low glycemic and not all that sweet. It’s a hearty sweetener. You can use it one for one for sugar in other recipes just know that it won’t be as sweet and may give your pastry a darker color. I don’t mind that at all!

For all my no-oil readers this cake is totally oil-free, though not fat-free (how boring of a dessert that would be!). I’m a big fan of using coconut milk in baked goods and it gives the cake part a wonderful texture without being dry like many other oil-free cakes. I worked off my Pear Almond Coffee Cake recipe (but took out the oil) to get this delicate crumb.

Many moons ago I won a wonderful prize of stevia from NuNaturals and I finally had a chance to experiment with the orange flavored one! I am generally not a fan of stevia but their liquid flavors are amazing and do not have the weird aftertaste you might find in other brands. If you can’t find it don’t fret. It adds a richer orange flavor and a touch more sweetness to the cake but I’m sure it will be good if you leave it out.

Watch my little Vine video that showed me flipping the cake out of it’s pan wondering if it worked!

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What is your favorite way to use orange? Do you ever use orange zest in baked goods? Have you ever tried rose water before?