My friend has a nickname for February, and it’s not a nice one. February is a hard month—maybe the worst one of the year. The magic of the holidays has long faded; the motivated vigor of new year’s resolutions has slackened; and winter’s coldest, dreariest days all seem to arrive at once. What we need is a two-pronged survival strategy: lean into winter and look for the cheat codes.
No matter how weary of cold gray days you are by this point, you can’t make the calendar fly any faster. Instead, this is your moment for maximum cozy. Build lots of fires. Try new soup recipes every week. Eat the soup with warm, crusty bread—along with all the other comforting carbs that call to us in the cold months. Do go outside and move your body (you’ll feel better), but dress for the weather so you won’t be miserable while you’re doing it.
When all of that is in place, embrace winter’s built-in cheat codes. Black History Month is one—a joyful chance to learn or celebrate something new.
Valentine’s Day, that complicated, commercialized holiday, can be another if you view it as an opportunity to honor all the ways love shows up in your life. And that brings us to citrus, nature’s gift of sunshine no matter the forecast.
In addition to being packed with immune-boosting nutrients (a bonus in sick season), citrus’ bright, floral zing wakes up stodgy winter diets and brings color just when we can’t take any more gray and brown.
You can practice both parts of February’s survival strategy with a simple blood orange upside down cake. The cake bakes up puffy and golden, but when you flip it over, you reveal a vibrant jeweled top, tiled with ruby wheels of blood oranges. Every slice is a reminder that brighter days are coming.
Photography by Jivan Davé
Blood Orange Upside Down Cake
Ingredients
- FOR THE CAKE:
- 1 stick unsalted butter softened, plus more for pan
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 ½ tsp. orange zest
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup sour cream room temperature
- FOR THE TOPPING:
- 4 to 5 blood oranges
- 4 Tbs. unsalted butter melted
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 Tbs. dark rum optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Brush an 8-inch round cake pan with 2-inch-high sides with butter. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
- In a mixer, beat butter with sugar and zest on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla and sour cream, scraping down sides of bowl. Reduce speed to low and gradually add flour mixture.
- Slice the ends off each blood orange and then cut away the peel, following the curve of the fruit to remove the white pith. Slice peeled oranges crosswise into ¼-inch-thick wheels, making sure to remove any seeds. In a small bowl, stir together butter, sugar, and rum, if using. Pour and spread mixture over bottom of prepared cake pan. Arrange sliced citrus over it in a tight, slightly overlapping even layer.
- Carefully spread cake batter over citrus (it will be thick). Bake until cake is golden and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool for 30 minutes. Invert onto a cake plate and serve, warm or room temperature.
