Leftover Oranges? Simple recipes to use them up

Ginger and orange cake (Vegan Food & Living)

Oranges only arrived on English shores in the 17th century, only eaten by wealthy people with access to orangeries. Queen Eleanor (who moved to England from Spain) would order the fruits to dock at Portsmouth harbour, as she was homesick for oranges!

Today, most oranges sold in England are from southern Europe. But Pesticide Action Network writes that (along with grapes), oranges are often covered in a cocktail of chemicals, so choose organic if you can.

Spanish blood oranges can be subbed for most recipes though the taste and colour may differ. Other related fruits to oranges are mandarins, clementines and easy-to-peel Japanese satsumas.

Keep citrus fruits away from pets (read more on food safety for people and pets). Bin citrus scraps as acids could harm compost creatures (same for rhubarb/tomato and allium scraps (onion, leeks, garlic, shallots, chives). It’s okay to put them in food waste bins (made into biogas).

For tinned ingredients, remove/pop lids inside, or pop ring-pulls back over holes (pinch tops closed) before recycling, to avoid wildlife getting trapped.

Buy loose oranges to avoid plastic nets (never compost) or take zero waste produce bags to the store. To dispose of existing fruit netting, cut open the holes and place inside a larger sealed bag for disposal at supermarket bag bins (remove/recycle metal clips).

Vegan orange layer cake recipe

This vegan orange cake (Rainbow Nourishments) is super-simple to make, ideal use up leftover fruits. What a way to get your vitamin C, as this includes 6 fresh oranges (juice and zest too) with no need for expensive orange juice extract. Made with oat drink and a light oil (rapeseed or sunflower is fine).

The cake is topped with a delicious vegan buttercream icing (choose vegan butter with no palm oil – Lurpak and Flora are good brands).

A recipe for vegan sticky orange cake

This Sticky Vegan Orange Cake (The Veg Space) is made with plant-based yoghurt and ground almonds, served with an orange drizzly syrup. It’s nice served for a tea-time treat with a hot drink, or slice and serve up slices with vegan vanilla ice-cream.

Blood orange and olive oil cake

This blood orange and olive oil cake (Basil & Bay) is how Italians make cakes, with oil rather than butter. It only needs a few ingredients, all of which you can find in any grocery store.

Blood orange and almond cake

This blood orange and almond syrup cake (Rainbow Nourishments) only needs a few ingredients, and is super-easy to make. Almond flour can be found in health stores (like Grape Tree). If you’re allergic (or can’t find it), you can sub with all-purpose flour and a little oil.

You can also make this cake with sliced apples or berries, instead of oranges.