When I first envisioned this cake, I pictured the red blood orange juice mixing with the yellow eggs creating a cake with a golden orange crumb. Then when I cut open my blood orange, I was shocked to see it had a dark purple, nearly black flesh! It was a little scary looking! (After some Wiki research, I think I may have had a Moro blood orange.) Anyway, I soldiered on. I poured out my olive oil and realized that it was green. Now red + yellow = orange, but purple + green + yellow = ... ehh... not to be overly dramatic or anything but the grayish green-brown batter looked pretty darn vile. Looks aren't everything right? At least it still smelled nice with the addition of the orange zest and smelled even better after it came out of the oven. The cracked brown exterior was really lovely and even though the interior wasn't the color I was hoping for, it was really delicious. Who knew olive oil would be so good in a cake! The olive oil made the cake so moist, tender, and heart healthy too! :) I'm sure it would look much better if you use an olive oil that was more on the yellow side and a blood orange that's more red than purple.
Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake
Adapted from Pure Desserts by Alice Medrich
2 C all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
3/4 C sugar
1 1/2 tsp orange zest
3 eggs
1/2 C fruity olive oil
2/3 C orange juice (blood orange, cara cara navel, or you can even substitute ruby red grapefruit juice)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper or butter and flour the pan.
In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
In a separate bowl rub the sugar together with the orange zest to release the fragrant oils.
In a blender add the eggs and orange sugar. Blend until it is light yellow and thick, then slowly drizzle in the olive oil as if you were making a mayonnaise. Then blend in the orange juice. Pour this liquid mixture into the dry ingredients and gently fold the batter together until no streaks of flour remain.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 350 deg F until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 50 minutes.
Remove the cake from the oven and cool on a metal rack for 10 minutes then remove from the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.