Boiled Bitter Orange & Polenta Cake

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For those who don’t like their cakes too sweet, but still love them full of flavour, then this one is definitely for you!  As it contains corn meal/polenta instead of flour, it’s also gluten free (ensure you use gluten free baking powder in this instance).  I glazed mine with an orange and Amaretto syrup.

This is an incredibly easy cake to make and can be prepared quickly and easily using a food processor.  I have a Kenwood MultiPro Sense food processor which also has a weighing scale built in, so this really is an easy, one bowl wonder of a cake to make!

Bitter Orange & Polenta Cake

Ingredients:
2 large oranges
250g demerara sugar
200g ground almonds
100g fine ground corn meal / dried polenta
6 large eggs
2tsp baking powder (see note above re: gluten free)
2tsp ground ginger
1tsp ground cinnamon

Orange & Amaretto Syrup:
75g caster sugar
60ml water
1 large orange, juice and zest
30ml Amaretto

Method:

  1. Wash any wax coating off the oranges.
  2. Place the oranges into a large saucepan and cover with cold water.
  3. Bring to the boil, cover and reduce to a simmer.
  4. Simmer for 1 hour until the oranges have softened.
  5. Remove the oranges from the water and set aside to cool.
  6. Preheat the oven to 170°C.
  7. Grease and line a 23cm/9″ springform cake tin.
  8. Cut the oranges into ¼ and remove the pips.

Bitter Orange & Polenta Cake

  1. Place the oranges (skin, pith and pulp) into a food processor with the sugar and blitz into a smooth paste.

Bitter Orange & Polenta Cake

  1. Add the almonds, corn meal/polenta, eggs, baking powder, ginger and cinnamon.

Bitter Orange & Polenta Cake

  1. Blitz together until combined.
  2. Pour the cake batter into your prepared tin.

Bitter Orange & Polenta Cake

  1. Bake for 60 minutes, until cooked in the centre.

Bitter Orange & Polenta Cake

  1. Cool the cake in the tin.
  2. Remove the cake from the tin when cold and place it on to a plate.
  3. For the glaze, add the sugar and water into a saucepan and heat gently, bringing it to the boil without stirring until the sugar has dissolved and the syrup has turned a golden brown.
  4. Add the orange juice, orange zest and amaretto and stir to fully combine.
  5. Bring back to the boil and boil gently until the syrup has reduced and become thickened.
  6. Poke small holes in the top of the cake to allow the syrup to soak through.
  7. Pour the syrup over the cake evenly and gently, allowing it to soak in.
  8. Serve the cake warm or cold with some clotted cream, ice cream, or cream.

Bitter Orange & Polenta Cake

For my cornmeal, I used Gaya Foods Authentic Brazilian corn meal which I bought in my local Tesco

Bitter Orange & Polenta Cake

This recipe was neither sponsored, or endorsed by Kenwood, Gaya Foods or by Tesco.

Plum and Almond cake with Bottlegreen Ginger and Lemongrass Syrup

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I was kindly given some plums from a colleague’s garden this week.  Being one of my husband’s favourite fruits and deciding a few brownie points were in order, I decided to make a cake; just for him! (Well, ok, we’ll all eat it too, but it’s the though that counts, isn’t it?). I love plums and almonds together and having recently been sent a range of Bottle Green cordials to try, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to combine them both with a twist in the topping, so here’s what I made:

10 plums (or enough to arrange in the base of your tin)
Syrup:
10ml Bottle Green Ginger and Lemongrass cordial
10ml Water
10ml Muscovado sugar
Cake:
200g Butter
200g Muscovado sugar
4 Eggs
10ml Almond Extract
5ml Nielsen Massey Vanilla Paste
100g Plain Flour
10ml Baking Powder
100g Ground Almonds
1. Preheat your oven to 180C.
2. Line a 20cm/8″ spring form tin with baking parchment (or use a cake tin liner, as I’ve done).
3. Cut your plums in half and remove the stones.
4. Arrange in the bottom of your cake tin, cut side down.
 
5. In a small saucepan combine the Bottle Green Ginger and Lemongrass cordial, the water and the Muscovado sugar.
6. Bring to the boil and boil for 3-5 minutes until reduced in volume and syrup-like.
7. Pour evenly over the plums then set aside to cool while you make your cake batter.
8. In a large bowl, add the butter, Muscovado sugar, eggs, almond extract, vanilla paste, flour, baking powder and ground almonds.
9. Cream together thoroughly for a few minutes until light in texture.
10. Spoon the cake batter over the plums and level the top.
11. Bake for 50-60 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
12. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes.
13. Invert the cake onto a plate and remove the parchment liner.
14. This cake can be served warm with custard, ice cream, clotted cream or cream. Alternatively allow to cool before serving.
The plums were a gift from a colleague’s garden.  I often buy Bottle Green cordials personally, but was sent a box of 3 bottles to try, including Elderflower, Strawberry and the Ginger & Lemongrass cordial that I used in this cake.  I was under no obligation to develop a recipe using the Bottle Green cordials sent to me.