Iced Blood Orange Loaf

With a gorgeous pink color, this iced blood orange loaf is packed with flavor and has a moist texture all your close ones will love. The icing is naturally flavored with blood orange juice and makes it the perfect Valentine’s Day dessert.

Happy Valentine’s Day lovers! Hope you’re enjoying your day with your loved ones, from fiances, to hubby’s to boyfriends, to galentines and everyone in between.

I’m not a huge fan of the holiday but never mind a reason to love on all the awesome people in my life. How are you celebrating?! Movie? Dinner? Netflix? Takeout? Nada? I bought Zach a pair of shoes with a note that said, “you can’t start new adventures without new shoes.” There’s a reason behind the new adventures play..read here to find out!

We’re also celebrating by heading to a basketball game together to watch some of his students. Any type of quality time is fine by me. We also celebrated with this iced blood orange loaf. I didn’t originally have that in the plans but it kind of worked out perfectly.

I was super strategically googling trending springtime flavors to use for new recipes and landed on blood orange. I’ve made blood orange margaritas, but really love the idea of including it in a baked good. Plus the color is just gorgeous and I had a vision to take this shot of them all laying together.

And as a result, this iced blood orange loaf recipe was born. I was planning on sharing the recipe a littler later but soon realized that it has the most beautiful pink color. Pink = Valentine’s Day. At least in my brain.

So we’re saving some slices for a celebration while we cheer on some Wellington bball. Man do I love this extraordinary ordinary life we’re building together.

If you’re wondering what this iced blood orange loaf tastes like just imagine your favorite lemon loaf and replace with the sweet and tart blood orange flavor. For reals, lemon loafs are one of my favorite desserts. I made this lemon poppyseed loaf last year and you’ll be sure to see more lemony goodness happening soon.

But the base of this iced blood orange loaf is simple. A traditional batter plus blood orange zest and blood orange juice. I bakes perfectly at 350 with that gorgeous crackle loaves get when they’re done. And the golden brown edges and smell will make you want to dig in immediately. Please refrain!

Because the best is yet to come: naturally flavored blood orange icing! It’s zingy and sweet and adds the most festive touch to the top of this loaf.

It will leave your loved ones swooning.❤️

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Iced Blood Orange Loaf

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

40 mins

Total Time

55 mins

 

Servings: 12

Author: Molly Leonard

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• juice of 1 blood orange
• zest of one blood orange
• 1/2 cup milk
• Icing:
• juice of 1 blood orange
• zest of 1/2 of a blood orange
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and adjust the oven rack to the center position. Generously grease a 9x5 inc loaf pan with non stick spray and dust with flour and set aside.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. Using a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the softened butter on medium speed for 1 minute. Once its creamy, add the granulated sugar and continue to beat on medium speed until light about fluffy, 2 full minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla until combined, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add the blood orange juice, blood orange zest and beat on medium speed for 1 minute.
4. Slowly add half of the the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, then half of the milk, beating on low after each addition. Repeat with the other half of the dry ingredients and milk. Be careful not to overmix.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes. Check the loaf around 25 minutes and cover with aluminum foul to prevent over browning if needed. Allow to cool completely in the loaf pan on a wire rack.
6. To make the glaze, mix the blood orange juice, zest and powdered sugar together in a medium bowl. Once cooled and removed from the pan, drizzle glaze directly over loaf before cutting it into slices.
7. Loaf will stay fresh in an air tight container for up to 2 days or in the fridge for up to 5 days.