We’re deep into citrus here at saltandserenity this month. I bought every type of citrus I could find at Farm Boy last week, and I’ve been having fun exploring and shooting them.

Without a doubt, blood oranges are the darling of the citrus world. But, like most drama queens, you never really know what kind of mood they’ll be in. Sometimes you cut one open and you get a glorious blaze of crimson. Other times, she’ll be in a tamer mood and it’s just a hint of fire.

But I’m here to tell you about her shy cousin, the Cara Cara orange. A member of the navel family, they’re a cross-cross-polination of the Washington Navel and the Brazilian Bahia Navel. While they look like a regular navel orange on the outside, inside, their flesh is a lovely pink colour. They’re sweeter and less acidic than a regular navel orange. They have a delicious “berry-like” flavour. They’re available from December – April. Seek them out, you won’t be disappointed.
I decided to make a simple pound cake to highlight the Cara Cara. I adapted one of my favourite pound cake recipes (lemon pound cake) from Daphna Rabinovitch’s book “The Baker in Me.”

Butter, sugar, eggs, sour cream, flour and of course lots of Cara Cara orange zest for flavour.
About halfway through mixing the batter, it will look like it has curdled. Don’t panic. Once you add the flour mixture, it will all smooth out. Daphna instructs you to cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer for quite a while. You want to aerate the batter.  When it comes time to add in the dry ingredients, she instructs you to remove the bowl from the mixer and switch to a wooden spoon, so that you don’t overwork the batter. Listen to her. She knows her stuff!

I decided to add an icing sugar glaze to the cake. Powdered sugar, cara cara juice and just a touch of lemon juice to amp up the acidity. If you want the glaze to stay shiny when it dries, add a spoonful of white corn syrup to the glaze. I added an optional garnish of dried orange slices. I really like how pretty they make the finished cake. They are available online from several different sources, but it’s pretty simple to make your own.

If you want to try, thinly slice about 4 oranges. Arrange on parchment lined baking sheet, in a single layer. Sift a heavy layer of icing sugar over the orange slices and bake in a 200°F oven for 4-5 hours.

Click here to print recipe for Cara Cara Orange Pound Cake.