Blood Orange Loaf Cake
Oranges are my favorite winter fruit, especially blood oranges. They’re the perfect balance of sweet and tart flavors, and the deep red color always amazes me. This loaf cake is foolproof, super-easy to make, and super-moist; that moist texture is from creaming the sugar and vegan butter well plus, believe it or not, applesauce. Also, I decided to spice this cake with cardamom instead of cinnamon, just to mix things up a bit!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup vegan butter, (room temperature)
- 3/4 cup organic cane sugar
- 2 flax eggs, (2 tablespoons flax meal mixed with 6 tablespoons water)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 tablespoons blood orange juice
- 1 cup organic unsweetened apple sauce
- 2 cups bread flour
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 2 tablespoon chia seeds
- Blood orange slices, (for garnish)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease loaf pan with a little vegan butter. Set aside.
- In a medium-sized bowl with a whisk or hand-held mixer, cream butter and sugar.
- Add flax eggs, vanilla, orange juice, and applesauce, folding ingredients to mix.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, sea salt, baking powder, baking soda, chia, and cardamom.
- Add flour mixture to wet ingredients, stirring to combine, to create batter. The batter will be thick.
- Transfer mixed batter to loaf pan and spread evenly, then garnish with blood orange slices and bake for 50-55 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let cool on cooling rack for 10 minutes.
- Use a butter knife along the edges of the loaf pan and remove the cake.
- Continue to cool on the cooling rack until it reaches room temperature, then serve.