Saffron-(Blood) Orange Bundt Cake

This cake was the product of a late-night craving for sweets. As I said to my partners when I made it: I am an adult. In theory this means I am capable of making healthy and responsible choices. In practice this means I am capable of making saffron-blood orange Bundt cake at midnight. Oh, and I used blood oranges because I had a bunch on hand, not because that's what the recipe required. Plus, it sounds even fancier with blood oranges in the name!

Saffron-Orange Bundt Cake

From The Perfect Cake by America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients

Cake

• 1/2 tsp. saffron threads, crushed
• 1/8 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1 Tbsp. boiling water
• 3/4 c. buttermilk
• 4 tsp. orange zest
• 2 Tbsp. orange juice
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 c. (425g) all-purpose flour¹
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 18 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 2 c. sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 egg yolk²

Glaze

• 2 c. icing/powdered/confectioners' sugar
• 1 tsp. orange zest
• 2-4 Tbsp. orange juice

Directions

Cake

1. Grease and flour your Bundt pan and place it on a baking sheet.
2. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
3. Combine saffron and turmeric and pour boiling water over them. Set aside for 15 minutes.
4. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
5. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (~3 minutes).
6. Break in eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
7. Beat in egg yolk.
8. Whisk buttermilk, orange zest, orange juice, and vanilla into saffron mixture.
9. Add the flour mixture to the creamed butter mixture in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk mixture in two additions.
10. Stir once or twice by hand to make sure everything is well mixed, then pour into prepared Bundt pan.
11. Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 50-55 minutes.
12. Let cool in tin for 10 minutes.
13. Invert onto cooling rack and remove tin.
14. Allow to cool for two hours before glazing.

Glaze

1. Combine icing sugar, orange zest, and 2 Tbsp. of the orange juice.
2. Add additional orange juice 1 tsp. at a time until desired consistency is reached. Glaze should be thick but pourable.
3. Drizzle glaze over cooled cake and allow to set for at least 10 minutes before serving.

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¹ Soft/plain/cake/standard flour should be fine here. But if you are going to swap out the flour, it's probably best to do it by mass rather than volume. ^Back
2 My eggs were on the small side (~55g), so I just put in four whole eggs. ^Back