2heaped teaspoons(2heaped teaspoons)baking powder(ensure gluten-free if necessary)
¼teaspoon(¼teaspoon)bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
Instructions
For the oranges:
Prepare a 7 inch/18 cm springform baking tin lined with greased baking paper. Make sure that the baking paper is covering both the bottom and the sides of the tin, to prevent the sides of the cake from getting burnt.
Evenly sprinkle the coconut sugar across the bottom of the tin.
Peel the blood oranges - using a kitchen knife and chopping board, slice off both ends, then make vertically slices to cut off all the skin. Make sure to cut off all of the skin, including the white pith, as keeping this will spoil the appearance and taste of the cake.
Lay the peeled oranges on their side so that you can horizontally cut the oranges into slices with a thickness of 1cm (½ inch).
Lay out the slices along the bottom of the baking tin. Make sure to lay the orange slices with the most aesthetically-pleasing side facing downwards, because this is an upside down cake, and so whatever you place facing downwards on the bottom of the tin will become the top-facing part of the cake.
Cut the remaining orange slices into smaller pieces (halves and quarters etc) and use them to fill any remaining gaps between the orange slices already laid out on the bottom of the baking tin. Be careful to fill in all the gaps completely, so that there won’t be any gaps on the top of the cake when you turn it upside down after baking.
For the cake:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
Place the coconut oil in a large bowl and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave (skip this step if using any other oil).
Once melted, add the orange juice to the same bowl along with the milk, maple syrup, vanilla, salt and ground almonds.
Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
Mix well, adding a tiny splash more milk if it’s looking too dry.
Transfer the mixture into the baking tin, making sure that all the orange slices are completely covered up by the cake batter.
If you are using a springform baking tin, place it onto a separate baking tray (or a larger square baking tin) before putting in the oven, because juice may leak out from the bottom of the baking tin as the oranges cook, which will make a mess in your oven!
Bake in oven for around 30 minutes, until risen and golden brown and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
Once out the oven, leave the cake to cool in the tin.
Once the cake is completely cool, turn it out onto a plate or cake stand - place the plate or cake stand upside down on top of the baking tin, and then quickly flip it over.
Tastes best when fresh, but keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days
Notes
*Sprinkling this sugar before laying out the orange slices is necessary as it improves the overall taste of the cake, as otherwise it might not be sweet enough due to the acidity of the oranges.**You can alternatively use normal oranges. But you won’t need to use as many, since normal oranges tend to be bigger than blood oranges.***You can alternatively use almond flour.