orange sour cream cake

Just when we get into pumpkin mode, I come bearing orange sour cream cake with pink frosting. The cutest mini bundt cakes, tiny really.

The sweet pink color in the frosting comes from blood oranges. They are just so gorgeous when you cut them in two, fiery shades of orange and yellow, no two alike.

It makes for a whimsical glaze, don’t you think?

I always like using natural foods to create colors in my baking. It just makes sense. Like this almond cake with raspberry glaze, simply stunning.

What’s the difference between blood oranges and regular ones?

It’s subtle. Here the blood variety is pretty much the same in shape as the regular ones we use for juice (juicing oranges we call them), but the inside is bursting with dark oranges and yellows and maybe reds with an ochre base, very like a ball of burning flames.

They are quite sweet, and though many say sweeter than regular ones, I find them to have a slight acid berry undertone. Really great oranges, I just love them. The color alone makes them taste better? Or am I just losing it here?!

Anyway, they are wonderful and worth buying and trying.

This particular cake is one of my favorites, a take on the lemon lime pound cake, one of the best recipes in its kind, hands down.

Moist, sweet, perfectly tight crumb, easy to make and a good base to let your imagination fly, with citruses or spices or nuts…

I just had to use these blood oranges in a simple orange sour cream cake to bring out their flavor and make use of that gorgeous red juice in the glaze. Who can blame me?

Why do we use sour cream in cakes?

Sour cream makes for a denser cake with a tighter, richer crumb.

It cuts wonderfully and I personally like them for loaf cakes, since they remain moist for a few days and can be toasted easily (this is best done with a day old cake).

It also gives it a golden crust and in some cases cuts through some of the sweetness, due to the acid in it. It really is cream with an acidic content, a by-product from the days when fresh milk had its own layer of cream and all of it was used for different purposes.

Related recipes you might like from Vintage Kitchen:

ORANGE CINNAMON ROLLS, if you never tried adding orange to your cinnamon rolls, I urge you to do it.

ORANGE, RAISIN AND ALMOND COUSCOUS, one of the most popular recipes in the blog and sooo easy

ORANGE CHOCOLATE MARBLED BUNDT CAKE, omg this is such an amazing recipe!

ORANGE AND CREAM SCONES, the best recipe ever, and so cute if you add the pink glaze. Just saying.

ORANGE SOUR CREAM CAKE

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• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Yield: 24 mini cakes 1x

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Description

A wonderfully moist, rich orange cake, with a pink glaze thanks to blood oranges!

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Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

FOR THE CAKE:

• 3 1/4 cups cake flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 9 oz 255g unsalted butter, at room tº
• 8 oz 225g sour cream, at room tº
• 3 cups sugar
• 6 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Juice from half an orange
• Zest from 2 oranges

FOR THE GLAZE:

• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1–2 tablespoons orange juice

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Instructions

FOR THE CAKE:

1. Preheat oven 350ºC.
2. Butter or spray 12 mini bundt cake pans, or two 9×4 loaf pans, or 1 large bundt cake pan.
3. In a large bowl beat butter and sour cream until smooth, about 1 minute. Add orange zest and mix.
4. Add sugar gradually and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes more.
5. Add eggs, one at a time, incorporating well each one before adding the next. Add vanilla and juice.
6. Sift flour with baking soda and salt and add it to the butter mixture at low speed, in 2 additions, beating only until well mixed. Don’t overbeat.
7. Pour into the pans and bake for 45 minutes, or until golden and cracked on top and a tester comes out clean.
8. Let cool for 10 minutes, and then unmold. Let cool completely before glazing.

FOR THE GLAZE:

1. Mix powdered sugar and juice until smooth. Pour slowly over the cakes letting it slide to the sides.

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