It’s Cara Cara season! What is Cara Cara season, you ask? It’s the time of year when my favorite oranges—Cara Cara oranges—start appearing in stores. Sweet, juicy, and a gorgeous reddish-orange inside, they’re perfect for an orange bundt cake. Pour a cup of coffee or tea, grab a fork, and enjoy.
I haven’t posted a “how do you cook this” piece in a while—the holiday rush pushed them aside—but I love these posts because they highlight interesting produce and offer simple ideas for using it beyond the obvious. Cara Cara oranges are one of those treats I discovered recently. I bought them thinking they were just another variety of navel orange and got a pleasant surprise when I cut one open: the flesh is a lovely reddish orange and the flavor is exceptional. They’re very sweet, juicy, and have a balanced acidity that makes them versatile in both sweet and savory recipes.
Some key things to know about Cara Cara oranges: the peel is a bit thicker than some other navels but still easy to remove, and the zest carries concentrated orange flavor. The interior color is striking—deep orangey-red—though the juice looks like regular orange juice. They work wonderfully fresh—sliced into salads or eaten as a snack—but they truly shine in baking, marmalades, salsas, and dressings. Around my house they often disappear quickly; my daughter has been known to polish off a dozen in a week.
If you’re in the mood to bake, this bundt cake is an excellent place to start. I adapted the recipe from King Arthur Flour’s Orange Pound Cake with Bourbon Glaze and adjusted it to spotlight the Cara Cara’s flavor. Regular navel oranges will work too, but Cara Caras take the cake up a notch. I paired the cake with a bright orange glaze to amplify the citrus notes. Even in the middle of winter, one bite of this cake feels like summer.
– Happy Eating, Annemarie
Print Recipe
Cara Cara Orange Bundt Cake – How Do I Cook This?
30 mins
50 mins
1 hr 20 mins
Ingredients
Bundt Cake
- 2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 5 large eggs
- 3 cups (15 oz) all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp table salt
- 3/4 cup fresh orange juice (from a Cara Cara orange; about 1 1/2–2 oranges)
- Grated zest of one orange
Orange Glaze
- 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 2 tbsp fresh orange juice (from a Cara Cara orange)
- 2–3 tbsp buttermilk
- Grated zest of one orange
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Prepare the bundt pan: brush the pan thoroughly with butter, making sure to reach every corner, then dust generously with flour and tap out the excess.
- Make the cake: beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition and scraping the bowl as needed.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate small bowl, combine the orange juice and zest.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low. Add the flour mixture and orange juice alternately: start with about one-third of the flour, then add half of the orange juice, mixing only until just incorporated. Repeat with another third of the flour and the remaining orange juice, then finish with the last third of flour. Mix just until combined and finish folding any remaining flour by hand with a spatula.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 50–60 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the cake to rest about 10 minutes in the pan, then loosen the edges, tap the outside of the pan with the handle of a wooden spoon to help release it, and invert the cake onto a cooling rack.
- Once the cake is completely cool, whisk together the glaze ingredients until smooth. The glaze should flow thickly from a spoon—add the third tablespoon of buttermilk if needed. Spoon the glaze over the top of the cake, working from the edge toward the center to create even coverage.
Notes
