Ombre Citrus Cake Recipe

Good morning everyone! I wanted to share this recipe before Mother’s Day in case you decided to pull out all the stops for your mama! As you can see by the video…this cake is no joke. Lots of citrus. Lots of cutting citrus. So much cutting. And yes, I’m going to make you watch the vlog to see my final opinions on this cake. I actually found this recipe years ago from a Food Network Facebook video and saved the link in my notes and stumbled upon it a couple weeks ago. I made a few tweaks to the recipe based on my experience ESPECIALLY the amount of citrus. They called for way too much. But in an effort to keep you from wasting your time reading my mindless musings today, here is the recipe:

Oh also, if you still need any last minute Mother’s Day ideas, check out yesterday’s post!

Ingredients

Citrus:

3 Meyer lemons (you’ll have to remove the seeds which is annoying)

2 navel oranges (or tangelos)

3 tangerines

2 Cara Cara oranges

2 Ruby Red grapefruits

2 blood oranges

Glaze:

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 tablespoon water

Cake:

1 boxed yellow cake

Zest of one navel orange

Zest of one Meyer lemon

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. For the citrus: Slice the Meyer lemons into 1/4-inch-thick wheels, then trim the wheels into even squares (about 1 1/2 inches in size). Repeat with the navel oranges, tangerines, Cara Cara oranges, grapefruits and blood oranges. Line the cut citrus pieces on a baking sheet in a single layer. Set aside.
3. For the glaze: Place the granulated sugar, brown sugar, butter and water into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat; simmer until the sugars dissolve. Pour the mixture into a 9 x 13-inch baking dish and, using a pastry brush, brush over the entire surface. 
4. Starting with blood oranges and beginning at the top right corner of the baking dish, tightly line the blood orange pieces side by side, with the corners at the top, bottom and sides so you have a row of diamonds, not squares. Repeat, fitting the second row tightly into the gaps from the first row. Repeat with remaining citrus, going from dark to light and creating 2 rows for each type, until the entire baking dish is filled. Cut the remaining citrus diamonds in half and place into the edges of the dish to fill in the remaining gaps around the border. Set aside.
5. For the cake: The real recipe called for a homemade cake and you can knock yourself out with that one but after all that cutting, boxed cake it was. I just added the orange and lemon zest to the mix and it made it SO GOOD. So yeah, just prep your cake mix and add in the zest. Ta-da!
6. Pour the cake batter over the arranged citrus in the baking dish and spread around until you have an even layer. Bake the cake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cake and the top is golden brown. Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for at least 30 minutes.
7. Place a cutting board or large platter upside down over the top of the baking dish and quickly but carefully invert the cake. Carefully lift the baking dish from the cake to reveal the ombre top. Slice and serve that day.