Orange Polenta Cake

This is a delicious cake. Moist and syrupy. It travels well as it is quite a heavy cake and keeps for up to a week. It also freezes well if you slice it to single serves and wrap in cling-wrap If you do not require a gluten free cake use regular flour and omit the xantahn gum. A variation to this recipe is to stir in chocolate chunks last thing before pouring the mix into the tin to bake.

• Ready In: 1 hr 25 mins
• Serves: 12

Ingredients

• For the Cake

• 1  large orange
• 175  g butter, softened
• 1  cup caster sugar (aka superfine sugar)
• 1⁄2 cup  plain  gluten-free flour (or plain flour if not gluten free)
• 1⁄2 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1  cup polenta (cornmeal)
• 1⁄2 cup  almond meal
• 2  teaspoons baking powder (ensure gf is used)
• 4  eggs, seperated
• 1  tablespoon  orange liqueur (optional)

• For the Syrup

• 1  cup  orange juice
• 1⁄2 cup caster sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C Grease a 22cm round loose bottom cake tin and line the base with baking paper.
2. Wash the orange and place it in a saucepan(do not peel the orange-leave it whole). Cover with water and weigh the orange down with a smll saucer or bowl. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 10-15 minutes. Remove the orange from the saucepan and allow it to cool for 10 minutes.
3. Chop the orange coarsely and discard any seeds.
4. Place the orange and any of its juice into a food processor and pulse until it is finely chopped. Add the butter, sugar, flour, gum, polenta, almond meal, baking powder, egg yolks and the liquer. Pulse until just combined- do not over process.
5. In a seperate bowl- whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form.
6. Fold the egg whites into the orange mixture.
7. pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 40- 45 minutes.
8. Meanwhile- combine the orange syrup ingredients in a small saucepan. Stir over a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and cook for 2 minutes. The syrup will thicken slightly. Set the syrup aside until the cake is cooked.
9. When you remove the cake from the oven, poke holes all over the surface and down into the cake( this allows the syrup to be absorbed better). Leave the cake in the tin.
10. Pour all of the syrup over the surface of the cake and let the cake stand for at least 20 minutes, or until the syrup is absorbed into the cake.