Citrus upside down cake (V, G)

I'm far from a keen baker, but nonetheless these past weeks have unveiled a hidden urge to bake. Baking and preparing food are delightful lifelines, worth making use of, when you are confined in your home. Furthermore you can brighten up your neighbours' day by sharing your products with them. 

This sunny cake found its way to my heart instantly - the recipe comes from Crowded Kitchen. 

As the blood oranges were in season I used a few of those and then ordinary oranges and a few clementines. You can even use lemons if you want. This lovely upside down cake doesn't contain any butter nor eggs so it's completely vegan. It's also gluten free: the flours used are oat and almond flours and gluten free all-purpose flour. The cake is spongy, moist, flavourful and refreshing. And very easy to make: start by arranging some citrus slices on the bottom of a cake pan and then pour in the batter. 

Ingredients:

2-3 blood oranges/any other citrus, peel removed and sliced into rounds

1 dl extra virgin olive oil

1 dl non dairy milk (I used oat, almond is nice, too)

1 dl unsweetened apple sauce

1 tbsp fresh orange zest

1 dl freshly squeezed orange juice/store-bought with some pulp

1/2 dl maple syrup

1 1/2 tbsp of Cointreau/other orange-flavoured liqueur

1 tbsp vanilla extract

about 2 dl cane sugar (if you like it sweet, use more)

about 4 dl gluten free all-purpose flour

1,2 dl oat flour

1 dl almond flour

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C/350 degrees F. Oil the sides and the bottom of a cake pan and line bottom with parchment paper.

2. Use a sharp knife to remove the peel and outer pith from the oranges. Then, slice into 1 cm rounds and pat each side dry with a paper towel. Remove any seeds. Let sit on dry paper towels while you prepare the cake batter, to remove as much moisture as possible.

3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together olive oil, almond milk, apple sauce, orange juice and zest, maple syrup, vanilla and orange liqueur. Add sugar and whisk well.

4. In a smaller bowl, combine all-purpose flour, almond flour, oat flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

5. Using an electric hand mixer/stand mixer, slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, mixing on a low speed, until the batter is smooth.

6. Arrange the orange slices on the bottom of the cake pan, filling in with citrus odds and ends.

7. Pour batter into pan and bake for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, cover the cake with aluminium foil and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes. Use a toothpick or small knife to determine if it's done. If it comes out clean, it's ready.

8. Remove cake from oven and let it cool in pan for 30-40 minutes. Then place a cooling rack over the top of the pan and carefully flip onto cooling rack. Carefully remove parchment paper and let the cake cool completely before slicing.

For decoration I used Flower sprinkle confetti from ADD:WISE.