If you’re looking for a great way to use up citrus fruits that you have lying around the house, especially if they’re a little past their prime, then look no further! This cake is very easy to put together, it doesn’t require any fancy ingredients or any appliances for that matter; all you need is a large bowl, a whisk and a wooden spatula. Also, feel free to use any citrus fruits you like. I had three types of citrus fruit left, so I used all of them: a tangerine, a blood orange and a brown orange. To be honest, I would have only used blood oranges, as they are my favourite and I do love a little zing in a cake, but the mix worked out nice as well.

The end result is a moist puddingy cake with a citrus kick. It’s neither too sweet, nor sour, but it sure is flavourful and delicious in all of its simplicity.

Upside Down Citrus Fruit Cake

70g/¹⁄₃ cup demerara sugar

One blood orange

One brown orange

One large tangerine or two small ones

300ml/ 1½ cups milk

Freshly squeezed juice from half a lemon

312g/ 2½ cups flour

200g/1 cup coconut sugar (or any other granulated sugar)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

A pinch of salt

One large egg yolk

Two large eggs

Freshly squeezed juice from half a blood orange

2 tsp finely grated blood orange zest

90g/³⁄₄ cups unsalted butter, melted, at room temperature, plus a little extra for greasing

Preheat oven to 180C/350F.

Start by removing the peel from half of a blood orange and the brown orange. Using a small paring knife, cut off both ends of the orange, then set it down and start cutting down where the flesh starts, going with the curve of the orange, make sure to cut off all the white pith as well (a good video that explains the technique is available here, but do not cut it into segments!). Once you’ve peeled the orange, cut it into very thin slices and remove any seeds. For the tangerine, remove the peel manually, then slice thinly.

Grease a 25cm/10 in. cake pan with a little butter. Scatter the demerara sugar evenly on the bottom of the pan, then arrange your citrus slices so that they cover all of the bottom of the pan; it’s okay if they overlap, but make sure you only place full slices, as smaller bits will not stay on the bottom after you pour the batter.

Add the squeezed lemon juice over the milk, stir well, then leave on the counter for about 5 minutes.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, coconut sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the egg yolk, eggs, blood orange juice and zest, milk, butter and mix with a wooden spatula until everything is well combined and there aren’t any lumps.

Pour batter over the oranges in the cake pan and place in the oven. Bake for anywhere around 40 minutes to one hour (the time varies from one oven to another). The cake is done when the edges have pulled from the sides of the pan and a skewer or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove cake to a cooling rack and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Using a spatula, gently release the cake from the sides of the pan, place a serving dish on top and flip it. And enjoy!

Adapted from here