Vegan Blood Orange Upside Down Cake

5 from 11 votes

Vegan Blood Orange Upside Down Cake

This easy Vegan Blood Orange Upside Down Cake celebrates oranges galore. Impressive & delicious, moist, not overly sweet and with lovely citrussy tang, this cake is perfect with a nice cup of tea!

Course Cake, Dessert

Cuisine American, British, International

Keyword orange upside down cake, vegan orange cake

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

Servings slices

Calories 393kcal

Author Jo Allison

Equipment

Ingredients

2-3 blood oranges Depending on the size and how close together you want to arrange them.
zest of one orange see notes
85 g demerara sugar
400 g plain (all-purpose) flour
160 g caster or golden caster sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
370 g plant based (vegan) yogurt I use Alpro Greek Style Plain yogurt
140 ml neutral tasting oil light olive oil, cold-pressed rapeseed oil, sunflower oil
2 tablespoon fresh orange juice or from the carton
a little oil for greasing the tin

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and prepare round cake tin by greasing it and lining the bottom with some parchment paper.
Peel and thinly slice two or three oranges (depending on their sizes).
Sprinkle demerara sugar evenly on the bottom of the cake tin and arrange orange slices on top (they can overlap slightly). Make sure you put orange slices "neat cut" down as they will be visible once the cake is turned upside down.
Put all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and give them a whisk. Alternatively, sift them through a sieve.
Zest one orange and add it too. Whisk it in so that it's combined with all the dry ingredients.
In a large jug mix together oil, yogurt and orange juice until combined.
Add wet ingredients into the bowl with dry ones and mix gently until just combined (try not to overmix it). Your cake batter will be pretty stiff and lumpy which is as it should be.
Pour cake batter on top of your orange slices (make sure you do it gently not to mess up your neatly arranged fruit). Spread it out nice and even.
Bake your cake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes until nice and golden and skewer inserted into centre comes out clean.
Take the cake out of the oven and let it stand for 10 minutes before turning it out upside down onto a plate or cooling rack and gently peeling off the layer of baking paper.
Let it cool and serve!

Notes

Nutritional information is approximate, per slice based on 10 slices and should be treated as a rough guideline only.
As you need zest from one whole orange, make sure to zest it before peeling one of them.
Store in the airtight container on the counter for up to 2 days. If storing any longer, keep in the fridge.
Not suitable for freezing.

TIPS:

Zest one orange before peeling it.
Make sure you check your orange slices for any seeds.
Put baking sheet underneath your cake tin to catch any leaks if not using a tin with spillproof edge.
Feel free to fit your orange slices as close together as you like.
Always put your orange slices with the nicely looking side down.
Take care not to overmix the cake batter.
Turn the cake out and upside down onto the plate or cooling rack whilst it's still warm to prevent it from sticking to the tin.

Update Notes: This recipe was originally published in March 2019 and then tested and converted into fully vegan recipe in March 2022 with updated photos, text and layout.

Nutrition