Blood orange cocoa cake  

INGREDIENTS

For the cake:

• 5-6 blood oranges
• 120 ml olive oil
• 200 g all purpose flour
• 80 g unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1.5 teaspoon baking soda
• 0.5 teaspoon kosher salt
• 220 g coconut sugar
• 240 ml water
• 1.5 teaspoon white vinegar / apple vinegar

For the icing:

• 120 g powdered sugar
• zest and juice from blood oranges
• extra water if necessary

For the decoration:

• 30 g chopped unsweetened pistachios
• blood orange slices
• blood orange zest (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Zest 5 oranges. Divide the zest between three bowls: 

• zest of 3 oranges (for the cake), 
• zest of 1 orange (for the icing) 
• zest of 1 orange for decoration (optional).

2. Add the olive oil to the bowl with zest of 3 oranges and leave it for 1 hour to infuse.

3. Squeeze the juice of 3 oranges. Leave 3 table spoons aside for the icing.

4. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C.

5. Make the batter. First mix the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. 

6. Add the sugar, blood orange juice, vinegar and water. Stir until the ingredients are combined. The batter might appear quite runny but that's OK.

7. Spray the form with cooking spray.

8. Fill the form with batter. Bake 40 minutes.

9. Prepare the icing. In a bowl mix powdered sugar with three tablespoons of blood orange juice and zest of one orange. If necessary, add some water to reach the desired consistency.

10. Prepare the decoration. Cut the top and bottom of the remaining oranges and remove the skin. Cut the oranges into slices. Chop / crush the pistachios (you can put them in a plastic bag and crush them for instance with a rolling pin).

11. Take the cake out of the oven. Let it cool completely. 

12. Decorate the cake. Pour / spread the icing over the top. Put on the oranges and sprinkle the cake with pistachios. You might also use the remaining zest to decorate the cake.