Citrus sunshine...

Here in Austin TX we have gotten our share of sunny citrus to brighten the week's overcast skies.

On Friday I picked up gorgeous Moro blood oranges and used them to make a sauce and garnish for homemade angel food cake. I adapted a recipe from the store, and simply reduced 1 1/2 cups of fresh squeezed juice, added some superfine sugar and honey and just let it cook down until it was glossy and coated the back of a spoon. Then I made a simple caramel (1c sugar: 1/2c water) and coated Moro orange slices with the result.

I put the slices on parchment and before serving decorated the top of the cake with the sliced oranges and random pieces of the caramel. The sliced cake was served in a pool of the blood orange reduction. It was lovely. The sauce added a thrilling floral, aromatic note to the homier scents of almond and vanilla, and for a moment I also felt as if I might be on a faraway island in the Mediterranean...