Orange & Polenta Cake
Made with orange juice , this dense ,warm polenta cake provides vitamin C .This version is made with yogurt instead of syrup , so it's lower in sugar and that so good for your diet .
This delicious moist orange and almond cake requires just simple ingredients .It contains no flour , but polenta instead , so it's gluten free .Serve up for a special afternoon or with creme fraiche as a dinner party dessert .
Ingredients
200 g unsalted butter at room temperature
plus extra for greasing
200 g castor sugar
3 large free range eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
200 g ground almonds
100 g coarse polenta
2 oranges , zest of
1 teaspoon baking powder
plain yogurt , to serve
for the syrup
250 ml orange juice (from about 3-4 oranges)
5 cardamon pods, crushed
125 g golden castor sugar
method
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C. Grease a 20 cm springform tin ,line the bottom and sides with baking paper and grease again .
Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and creamy , don't worry if it looks gritty as the sugar will
dissolve when it's cooked . Beat in the eggs , one by one , then stir in the vanilla essence .
In a small bowl combine the ground almonds , polenta, orange zest , orange blossom water and baking powder , then stir this into the cake mix .Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 40-50 minutes , until the surface is light brown and the cake is coming away slightly from the sides of the tin .
Remove the tin from the oven , leave to cool for 10 minutes , then turn out onto a plate . This cake will be quite moist and a little fragile, so handle carefully as you remove it.
To make the syrup , put all the ingredients in a saucepan and simmer over a low medium heat, until reduced and thickened slightly , it should take about 10 minutes .Set aside to cool .
Prick the cake all over with a skewer , then brush generously with the syrup .Serve in slices with yogurt and an extra drizzle of syrup .
Note: This mixture is very wet , which makes a lovely moist cake .If you don't have a funnel cake tin you can use a regular one , you just need to drop the temp down to 120 and cook for an extra 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean .
Cake baking tips
Before starting your cake , preheat your oven to the right temperature .It's important to put your cake into a nice ,warm oven to start cooking straight away , rather than a cold oven gradually getting warmer .
Make sure all the ingredients ,particularly the butter , eggs and milk , are all at room temperature .We need the butter to be soft so when we are beating it with the sugar , it is whipping up easily and incorporation air .The butter and sugar need to be beaten long enough so the butter turns a pale color and the mixture looks creamy .
For this recipe we used caster sugar .The type of sugar you use makes a big difference in the final outcome of the cake - it's the sugar tat creates the crumb and texture of the cake , so a more refined sugar like caster sugar will give a finer crumb than a more coarse , white sugar .
