I had to do at least one more thing with blood oranges before they go out of season. Which may not be until March or April, for all I know, but since I don’t know, I wanted to make use of them quickly. I remember what happened to me when I discovered rhubarb.

I can’t think of a much better use for a delicious fruit than putting it in either a salad, which we already did, or putting it in a dessert. So let’s do that now.

I’ve been learning new ways to prepare ingredients this week. Not on purpose. It just happened.

For this cake, I had to learn how to “supreme” an orange. I didn’t even know that was a verb. Lol. And for some quesadillas we made, I learned to “chiffonade” spinach.

To supreme an orange, you first slice just enough of the top and bottom off to reveal the flesh of the orange.

Then, using the visible flesh as a guide, you slice off the peel and pith from top to bottom in strips until your orange is totally bald and free of fibers.

Lastly, you cut between the segments to release the orange flesh from the fibrous casings and wapow! You have totally nekkid fruit.

(To chiffonade spinach, you stack a bunch of leaves on top of each other. About 5 seemed to work best for me. Then you roll them up loosely from bottom to top and make thin vertical slices with a knife. It basically makes long thin shreds.)

Anyway, the information about my spinach is neither here nor there, although I like learning new things.

I enjoyed mixing the orange zest and sugar with my fingers. I didn’t think I would, but I did. Very pretty too. And easy to rinse off, unlike when you get butter on your fingers. And remember what I said about the wonderful aroma you get when zesting a lemon? Just as wonderful with an orange.

Also, how amazing is the color of this blood orange juice mixed with buttermilk? Looks like a strawberry smoothie, doesn’t it? Just as pretty as the zesty sugar. I totally agree with the statement that you eat with your eyes first. If the color of the blood oranges didn’t grab you from the start, I think these images should do the trick. 

The other interesting point about this cake is that it uses olive oil instead of butter, which I didn’t find extremely noticeable in the final flavor, although I guess I did sense a more earthy flavor to it rather than a heavy, sweet flavor. And, of course, even though you shouldn’t overdo any fats, olive oil is better for you than butter, so there’s that.

The cake is divine by itself. It reminded me a bit of the pecan tart with cranberries or the coffee cake with rhubarb, both from my 52 Sundays project. It’s sweet and delicious with occasional pops of tartness.

It’s taken to an even higher level with the compote and whipped cream, so don’t skip them! Using these components makes the sweet-tart contrast even more pronounced and it is glorious. (I did forget to cut the compote oranges into little pieces, but oh well.)

Hmmm … I seem to like this combo a lot, don’t I? I remember also talking about liking my key lime pies really tart with a sweet crème fraiche on top. Well, don’t fix what ain’t broke, right?