sunshine cake

Just when we thought spring was nearly here, with daffodils and primroses in full bloom in the garden, winter returns with grey skies, snow and hail.

But here is a cake to put some sunshine in your life. A cake with such vibrant colour and zing it is bound to bring a smile to even the most winter weary of us.

I came across the recipe whilst reading Silverpebble's lovely blog.  It is a cake she baked with Chetna from the Great British Bake Off 2014. But I will let Emma tell the story here.

The recipe uses blood oranges which rather like Seville oranges have a short season , normally from December to April and so are available now.

Their dark ruby red colour is due to an antioxidant pigment which develops due to cold night temperatures during the fruit's growing season. Their beautiful crimson flesh is good for the soul and the body!

By chance, I had bought some blood oranges ( or blush oranges as Waitrose prefers to call them ) the other day and so I had to try this cake.

Do visit Emma's blog to view the complete recipe and to watch Emma and Chetna making the cake on YouTube.

I halved the recipe ingredients and baked the mixture in a 19 cm sponge tin at 170c for about 20 minutes.

When the cake had cooled slightly, I poured the orange syrup over and served it in wedges with a dollop of yoghurt.

It was delicious! 

Thank you Chetna and Emma.

Wishing you all a happy Sunday and especially to all those ladies out there who care for someone whether child, partner, parent, friend, relative or neighbour - Happy Mother's Day.

annjenny x