As I sat in my dressing gown one morning earlier this week I found myself looking out through the patio doors. All I could see was darkness. Okay so it was 7.30am but as my hands were clasped firmly around my breakfast mug of steaming tea I was trying to glimpse any speckles of day light . There were none .
Today is the 11th day of the new decade. That sounds a bit depressing said like that .There is still so much talk of new beginnings but I am still very much in the slumber of winter and quite frankly don’t quite feel like emerging for another couple of weeks . For me, 1st February is the beginning of the new year.
January by nature is a dark, long month , yep all 31 days of it . So when I keep reading recipes that include clementines and blood oranges why wouldn’t I want to try a recipe for a blood orange syrup loaf cake. It sounds just like that splash of sunrise I was searching for this morning and perfect for January baking.
For those of you unfamiliar with this rather gory sounding fruit let me enlighten you about it. It is an orange with a reddish blush peel originating from the southern Mediterranean. The arancia rossa di Sicilia isn’t known as the red orange of Sicily for no reason and packs a punch with it’s vitamin C and antioxidants.
The variety I found in my local green grocers (George’s Greens in Haxby ) is Moro and are particularly deep red and along with their citrus taste and raspberry like flavour should work beautifully in the recipe. When you discover that the blood like colour comes about because of the colder night temperatures followed by warm Mediterranean days you really do want that sun to rise.
Curious to know how the recipe turned out? Well once that sun rises I will share it with you

Nicola x