When brainstorming Valentine’s Day recipes this year, I knew I wanted to give you something sweet and something pink. I landed on these olive oil and blood orange bundtlettes for a few reasons! For starters, it’s citrus season. That means that the grocery shelves are loaded with succulent citrus fruits, including one of my favorites, the blood orange. Blood oranges taste much like your run of the mill orange, but with distinct berry notes. They also have a bloody looking red flesh, which fills my heart with joy. When you mix the juice into a glaze, you’re left with a beautiful pink color. It’s perfect for Valentine’s Day and doesn’t include any artificial coloring!
Another reason I thought these little cakes would make a great v-day treat is that they’re well balanced. These citrusy olive oil cakes are light, moist, and flavorful without being overly rich or sugary. And finally, these babies are easy to throw together and even easier to decorate. I am absolutely terrible at decorating cakes. Maybe one day I’ll work on honing that skill. For now, I’m chill with dipping my elaborately molded (via pan, of course) little cakes into some glaze and calling it a day.
Measuring flour:
Properly measuring flour can be a little bit tricky. If you scoop directly from the bag with a measuring cup, you will likely get way too much flour, which can wreak havoc on your cakes. Instead, make sure to fluff the flour up a bit, then spoon it into a measuring cup and level it with a knife. Alternately, you can use a kitchen scale, but I know that not everyone has one of those, so it’s not essential!
Is this cake vegan?
No, this cake is not vegan. It is dairy free, though! Olive oil is our fat of choice for these bundtlettes, so there’s no need for butter or milk. If you’re looking to make a vegan version of this, I’d recommend using applesauce. 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce, along with an additional 1/2 tsp baking powder should do the trick. I didn’t try it for this specific recipe, but I’ve used this substitution for bundtlettes (same pan and everything) in the past with great success!
Do I need a special pan for this?
Yes. I’m fond of Nordicware’s Heritage Bundtlette pan. It’s what I used for this recipe. It creates 6 elegant and fun little cakes! The design is lovely and the pan itself is sturdy. I’ve been a fan of Nordicware’s pans for quite some time now. If you don’t like this design, they have plenty to choose from. Just make sure it’s a 6 slotted bundtlette or cakelet pan!
How do I prevent my cakes from sticking?
Bundt cakes are notorious for sticking to their pans. I do find that the minis (aka bundtlettes) are easier to get out than the big boys, though. And since you’re making multiples, it’s unlikely that they’ll all stick. That said, I like to use cooking spray in order to ensure that my cakes don’t stick. Baker’s Joy is my spray of choice. It’s always worked great for me.
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Olive Oil and Blood Orange Bundtlettes
Ingredients
Cakes
- 1 cup Granulated sugar
- 2 Large eggs
- 1/2 cup Olive oil
- 1 tbsp Blood orange zest
- 2 tbsp Blood orange juice
- 1 tsp Vanilla bean paste
- 1 1/2 cups All purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp Baking powder
- 1/4 tsp Salt
Glaze
- 3 tbsp Blood orange juice
- 1 cup Powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Then spray a bundtlette pan with cooking spray and set to the side.
- Add granulated sugar and eggs to the a large bowl and whisk until light and fluffy. Then add the olive oil, blood orange zest, blood orange juice, and vanilla bean paste and whisk to combine.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Then add this dry mixture to the wet one and whisk to combine, being careful not to over-mix.
- Add batter to your prepared bundtlette pan. Each opening should be filled 3/4 of the way to the top.
- Bake for 20-22 minutes or until you can stick a toothpick into the middle of one of your cakes and remove it cleanly. Let sit for about 10 minutes before overturning onto a wire baking rack.
- While the cakes are baking, make the glaze . To do this whisk together powdered sugar and blood orange juice in a small bowl and mix until smooth.
- When the cakes have cooled, dip them into the glaze, then enjoy!
Notes
And that’s it! Pretty easy as far as cakes go Especially ones that are this nice to look at. If you make these, let me know how you like them in the comments or on Instagram! I always love hearing from you and seeing your beautiful creations.
Looking for more Valentine’s Day worthy treats? Try my cardamom linzer cookies with raspberry rose jam or my decadent malted chocolate chip cookies.