The sweet tang of blood oranges mixes with the rich taste of spices in this absolutely stunning Blood Orange Spice Cake with Greek Yogurt Frosting. This upside down cake recipe is so simple for how incredible it looks. Ginger, allspice, and cinnamon mix to make this cake simply out of this world.
Turn oven on to 350 degrees to preheat. Grease two 9" cake pans with butter or desired shortening. Arrange orange slices in the bottom of one pan to be the top layer. Set aside.
In a medium sized mixing bowl, add all dry ingredients. All-purpose flour, baking powder, all-spice, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Mix well and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and maple syrup until incorporated. Add eggs, applesauce, vanilla, zest, and orange juice and mix until thoroughly combined.
Slowly add the the dry ingredients to the wet. Mixing as you go. Mix only until combined. Do not over mix!
Evenly distribute batter between both cake pans. Careful to not disturb oranges in the top layer pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and the tops are golden brown.
Let cool in pans for 10 minutes without disturbing. After 10 minutes overturn pans on a wire cooling rack and let cool for 20 more minutes.
Prepare frosting while cakes are cooling.
Add yogurt, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract and mix until thickened. This takes about 3 minutes. Let chill if not yet ready to use.
Using a spatula or a knife spread frosting over bottom layer (the cake without the oranges). Place other layer on top with oranges facing upwards.
Let chill in fridge for 30 minutes or more for frosting to set.
Remove from fridge and serve! Can be kept for up to 3 days in an airtight container.
Any kind of orange can be substituted for blood oranges if they are out of season. You can also substitute the maple syrup for 1 cup of granulated sugar if that's what you prefer to use.
I found that it was easiest to slice the oranges, then cut the peel off rather than peeling and then slicing them.
Blood Orange Spice Cake with Greek Yogurt Frosting https://thesimplesupper.com/blood-orange-spice-cake-with-greek-yogurt-frosting