Upside-Down Blood Orange Cake Recipe (2024)

I substituted Cointreau for the lemon juice, almond flour for the cornmeal, gluten free flour for the flour and yogurt for the sour cream and it was the cake my grandson chose for his birthday! Terrific either way.

Thanks to the commenter who suggested that more than two blood oranges might be needed; I ended up using 3-1/2. And thanks to the one who suggested using a cast-iron skillet; that worked splendidly. And thanks to the one who suggested substituting yogurt for sour cream; that too worked splendidly. The end result was a tasty and beautiful cake, happily not too sweet.

Bob's Red Mill makes a fine-grind cornmeal. Do not use corn flour; that won't give you the right texture or flavor. Another reader noted good results with a medium-grind cornmeal, which gave the cake a bit of crunch.

I've made this many times and love it. What a great way to use blood oranges. I follow the recipe exactly and it always turns out moist and delicious.

Thank you for the weight measures instead of volume measures. More please.

I made this to the recipe and it worked out great! I’ve also made them individual cakes in muffin tins (cooked for 25 mins) and they were perfect too.

Delicious, easy, and beautiful. I used Cara Cara oranges, and they still looked/tasted great. Done at 45 mins. Used masa harina which is very finely ground. Texture was terrific. Next time might add more zest, or add lemon zest as well to the batter.

I made this for my sister-in-law who is gluten-free, using the substitutions another reader suggested: almond flour for the cornmeal, and Cup4Cup gluten-free flour for the all-purpose flour. I also baked it in a cast iron skillet (I do all my upside down cakes in one-- the caramelization can't be beat!) for 43 minutes and it came out perfectly. She had three slices and said she couldn't believe how moist it was. The non-gluten-free diners all loved it as well. Great recipe!

Carefully* pulse the corn meal in blender or food processer if needed to get a finer texture (*carefully, so that you don’t get a layer of pulverized cornmeal and layer of coarse - use short pulses, then stir or shake and repeat) ... I do that with my organic sugar too in order to refine the text.

Definitely need at least three blood oranges. Also note that the oranges tend to fall apart. And... I suggest placing a baking sheet on the rack below the cake pan to catch the juice from the blood oranges that spilled over and caused my oven to start smoking. :)

I've made this cake three times and love it. I use all brown sugar and add a big scoop of poppy seed too.

I made a BO upside down cake from Smitten Kitchen. The trick on that one was to melt some red jelly or jam (e.g., strawberry) and then brush it over the BOs after baking. Really brightened the color. The recipe I mentioned from SK uses BO juice in it and is delicious. However it has an odd texture so I was looking for something more tender. I might combine the two!

Make it exactly as written. Beautiful and delicious but I think ours could have been better.I bought 3 blood oranges and glad I did, I needed all 3. My oranges sadly weren't very sweet so might have lost color and sweetness out of the finished product. Also this dish lends itself well to making a ombre pattern if you get some nice color variation from the orange slices.Next time I'd pair with someone a little sweet--a little whipped cream, a little Cointreau, jam, etc.

Second time. Substituted almond flour for cornmeal, sliced ripe Bartlett pears for oranges. Added 1/2 tsp cardamom to flour. Enhanced citrus zest and juice with 1 tsp lemon oil. Baked in a le Creuset cast iron skillet. Excellent result.

I can’t have dairy, so I substituted the butter with a dairy-free option and used a tart, unsweetened almond yogurt for the sour cream. The cake was excellent! If anyone else has a dairy allergy etc, this recipe holds up well with the substitutions.

Beautiful! Used 2 blood oranges, 1 very firm cara orange, and a tangerine. Put a cookie sheet underneath to catch the bubble through along the edges while baking. (Be very careful as any hot juices, when combined with the brown sugar mixture, even in small amounts, can stick to your skin and quickly burn.) Baked 1 hour 5 minutes. Cooled the 10 minutes and it inverted like a dream. It’s so pretty! Will make, again. Thank you, Melissa Clark!

Not sure what I did wrong. Followed the recipe exactly. When I flipped the cake, I was disappointed to see that the blood oranges were nowhere to be seen! They were covered by cake! Such a shame as I was excited to see a beautiful end result. First and possibly the last time for me

For altitude: Use 1 tsp baking powder (5 grams)Bake 45 minutes.

Delicious! I placed the orange slices into the caramel mixture and let it cool entirely, thus anchoring the slices. I made it the day before I served it and think it was worth it. Nice orangey taste, and a little bit of resistance from the cornmeal. I didn't have enough cornmeal so I topped it up with almond flour, about 2 tablespoons. all the guests loved it and some had seconds. I served it with a dollop of ever so slightly sweetened whipped cream.

Made this in one of the coldest weeks of our 2024 weeks so far. Filled the home with the delicious scent of fruit and the promise of summer! Made with yogurt rather than sour cream because that is what we had. Everything else exactly as written. Amazingly delicious!!!Thanks for including weights in the ingredient section.

I used a 10” skillet and was able to melt the butter and the brown sugar in it and place the orange slices and batter directly on top — no extra pan needed. Cut sugar to 150g and cake was still quite sweet. Reduced baking time to 35 min since pan was larger, and it was done. No sticking. Looks and tastes great.

I've made this several times... not only is it delicious but your kitchen smell heavenly for hours!

Does the cake keep at room temperature for a day or two? I’d like to bake ahead of our holiday party. Thanks

Perfectly savory and sweet!

Delicious recipe I’ll make again- as others said needed the three oranges. I’d recu you could use slightly less brown sugar on the topping - or allow it to caramelise longer than the 3 minutes cook suggested.

No blood oranges where I live so I use a mix of navel oranges and grapefruit. Still looks and tastes great.

Good recipe though it's essentially cornbread with oranges on top.This only needs half the sugar and 1.5 sticks of butter for the batter (I simply used orange syrup I had for the bottom of the pan, so not sure about the sugar amount for the pan.) I don't like my desserts sickly sweet so if this is your palate too, feel free to use 100-110 grams of sugar. I think I would next try 1.25 sticks of butter. All that butter was entirely unnecessary - the texture and the taste were just fine!

Made this last minute for a dinner party, soI made a lot of minor changes: used a mix of Cara Cara & tangerine. Used yoghurt instead of sour cream because my MIL hates sour cream. Reduced granulated sugar to 125grams, it was plenty sweet. Used only 2 sticks of butter because that’s what was at room temp. I always worry abt dessert with cornmeal being compared with flavored cornbread. The taste reminded me of cornbread but not in a bad way. Easy to make, looked beautiful and tasted great!

Subbed kite hill yogurt for sour cream. Used Masa Harina. Excellent.

My batter curdled. I was proud of myself for getting the butter and eggs to room temp well before making this recipe and felt okay with subbing Greek yogurt for the sour cream. I did not think to bring the yogurt to room temp, and I believe this may have caused the issue? She's still in the oven, but I'm feeling optimistic.