Upside Down Chocolate Blood Orange Cake

Have you ever had "one of those days" that turns into "one of those seasons"?

If you're a follower of my blog, you might be wondering if I have "checked-out" because I have not posted much lately. The truth is,  I've taken some time off from blogging to concentrate on my business and get a little more focused on my website. As grateful as I am for my business, I also long for those days when I could just throw myself in the kitchen and bake for no other reason than the cathartic essence of non-work-related baking. I absolutely love what I do for a living and after 30-plus years, being able to have that "dream job" is something I pinch myself over every morning when I wake.  I'm not sure what happened, but last week I found myself in need of some serious "zen baking" and as luck or God would have it, a day came up with no appointments, family business, lacrosse games, or anything else to take up my time. So in the kitchen I went.

I love winter citrus, mostly because of my beautiful Meyer lemon tree that continues to be prolific year after year. This year, my blood orange tree came back with a few oranges (we thought it was a goner after freezing a couple of years in a row) and so I wanted to pay homage to the gorgeous red and orange, sunset-colored flesh of this delicious citrus. It's a natural to pair orange with chocolate, so I set out to research chocolate and orange desserts.

Not quite Nigella makes a really good blood orange cake that I've made before, so I adapted her recipe but opted for a dark chocolate cake base. What I love about upside down cakes are that one recipe can make two cakes, since they are not layered, or three smaller cakes (like I did here), so you can give them as gifts.

It makes sense that after being on hiatus for a few months and having a schedule that seems so upside-down that I would come back with this cake, I'm jus' sayin'! 



Upside Down Chocolate Blood Orange Cake

 Ingredients:

Topping:
3 Blood Oranges (sliced thin, ideally on a mandoline)
1 Cup of Water
1/2 Cup of Sugar



Cake:
One recipe of your favorite Chocolate Cake (you can use a box or your favorite from scratch).
My go-to, never fail recipe since forever is this Hershey's recipe.

It's important to line your pans with parchment paper, as the oranges can become quite sticky.

Make your cake batter and set it aside.





Decide on how many cake pans you will need. I went with two 5 1/2 in. and one 7 1/2 in. One batch of cake batter will yield up to two 9 in. pans.

Pre-heat oven to 350˚




In a heavy, large skillet, stir the water and sugar until the sugar is dissolved and bubbles are forming around the outer rim of the skillet.  Carefully place your orange slices in the skillet so that they are all easily covered with the syrup. You may have some overlapping - I used a chopstick to maneuver the slices without breaking them.



Lower the heat and continue to boil until the rinds on the oranges are translucent.  Carefully remove (I used the chopstick) the slices and lay on a parchment lined cookie sheet.




Bring syrup back up to boil and reduce until they are a corn syrup consistency.






Using a pastry brush distribute the thick syrup amongst your pans.
Carefully arrange orange slices overlapping each other to cover the baking pans.




Distribute your chocolate cake batter among your pans. Bake as followed per cake recipes or back of box mix.
I baked my pans for 25 min until a tooth pick came out clean in the middle.
As soon as you pull the cakes out, let rest for 5 min, then invert onto a plate. Carefully peel away the parchment paper to reveal the glazed oranges. Cool completely.

12 Days of Meyer - Day 3: Meyer Muffins

Ingredients
2 Cups unbleached flour
1/2 Cup sugar, plus 2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 Teaspoon salt
1/2 Cup butter
1/2 Cup fresh lemon juice
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons of Meyer lemon zest
12 Thin 1/4 inch slices of Meyer lemons

Streusel Topping
4 Tablespoons of softened butter
1/3 Cup of sugar
1/3 Cup of flour

In a separate bowl, combine the above and with your fingertips mix until incorporated and crumbly. Set aside.

Directions
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray muffin tins (or line with papers). Combine flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, zest and salt; blend well. Melt butter and cool. Stir in lemon juice and eggs. Stir egg mixture into dry ingredients and blend until well moistened. Spoon into greased muffin tins, sprinkle top of batter with 2 tablespoons streusel topping. Place one lemon slice on top of each muffin.

Bake 15-20 minutes until lightly browned, but do not over bake!

The Sweet Taste of Volunteering

Before our youngest child started middle school, my husband and I agreed that it would be a good idea for me to stay home, so long as finances allowed for it.  After all middle school is not for the weak and never has been.  As part of this plan, I volunteered to work in the school office every Tuesday.  What started out as a plan to keep up with my daughter turned out to be so much more. For the last 3 years I have used the staff as my guinea pigs - ahem, I mean testers - for many of the recipes for my blog.  They did not seem to mind being forced each Tuesday to have a sweet treat. Unfortunately, getting honest feedback from them was tougher than nails as they were never critical - I think they were afraid if they gave honest feedback I might stop bringing treats.  Anyway, I digress.  Most of the days I had planned out what I would bring because it was something that had been floating in my head all week.  But then there were those days where I was really busy and completely blocked for creativity.  Those were the days that I had to open up the fridge to see what I had and use my inner "Chopped" skills. Funny how I feel those tend to be my best desserts.  It's like I'm being creative and don't realize it until the finished result.  Now, three years later, our daughter is ready to move on to high school.  It has been an honor and privilege to work in the office with some of the finest ladies I know.  I will miss them dearly and I am proud to say that buttering (or sugaring) up the staff just in case my daughter got in trouble was not needed.  She made it through with a strong shell and, thanks to some of her amazing teachers, a solid focus for the future... I'm jus' sayin'!

One Pot (food processor) Cheese Tart

Preheat oven to 350º

In my food processor I combined the following for the crust.

9 bakery style (non-frosted) sugar cookies
2 Tbs. melted butter

Blend until combined
Pat into an 8 inch tart pan, all the way around and up the sides.
If you use a bigger tart pan just use more cookies and a tad more melted butter.
Don't wash the processor bowl out, just free it from any excess crumbs you may have lingering on the sides.

Place the following in the food processor .

1 8 oz. Brick of Cream Cheese (Room Temperature)
1 Egg
1/2 Cup of Sugar
1 Tbsp. of Vanilla

Whirl until creamy. Spread evenly over crust. Place tart pan on a cookie sheet. Bake in oven for approximately 25-30 minutes. It will be done when it only has a slight movement to the middle but the sides are firm.  Cool completely before topping with your favorite sliced fruit. I used mangos and strawberries as they came in my co-op produce basket this week. I also melted a little peach jam and brushed it on top of the fruit to give it a little glisten. This is also a good tip if your fruit is not very ripe or sweet. However, I feel perfectly ripe fruit is the way to go on this tart.

I would love to see what your favorite fruit combos are - keep me posted.

Many cupcake flavors were taste-tested over 3 years.

I will miss Tuesday afternoons - These ladies made volunteering so fun. 

Kitchen Therapy

First, I must say "Wow!" It's the first day of Fall, and I'm so blessed that it has come with the pitter-patter of rain. Here in Texas, it's been so very dry that we welcome any form of precipitation we can get. Rainy days make me think of baking and baking makes my mind wander to places that bring only comfort and peace. The last two months have been filled with the usual ups and downs, but they also brought with them the sad news of deaths in the family. I find a bit of comfort knowing that I can walk into my kitchen and let all that pain just melt away when I am cooking.

The kitchen is my therapist, and the food waiting to be transformed becomes my therapy. Of course, on the morning that followed my dog's passing I found it difficult to be as creative as I wanted - so I took a day off. But then, it suddenly occurred to me that taking a day off makes me sulk. Who wants to sulk when there are eggs to whip and sugar to melt and butter to beat into tasty goodness? My whole life, no matter what seems to be bothering me or making me happy at that moment, I have had security knowing that I can walk into a kitchen and release it all - as well as the added bliss that comes along with it.

Once the oven is turned off, you get two choices: indulge in the results of your work right there (which we all know I am trying hard to pass up), or give it away and bless others. When you hand something sweet or something comforting over to a friend, whether they need it or not, it gives such a sense of satisfaction that no words are needed - unless you consider "oooh's" and "ahh's" and "mmmm" words. I'm not trying to take any jobs away from licensed therapists, but hey, if you can find that "thing" that does it for you, then just jump right in because last time I checked, baking cookies was a lot cheaper than therapy - I'm jus' sayin'