Wednesday, 7 January 2009

Orange Cornmeal Cake

This is a cake recipe from 'Forever Summer' and it's the sort of cake that's supposed to be eaten as a pudding, for example with fruit and cream.

It's easy to make - beat soft butter until it's light, beat in caster sugar, egg, plain yogurt, orange juice and zest (and orange oil if you have some) - then fold in polenta (cornmeal), flour and baking powder. I made half the recipe and cooked it in a loaf pan lined with a strip of baking paper.

It's a soft, puddingy cake, which adds a light, orangey-buttery flavour to a bowl of fruit and cream or yogurt. It also has a slight crunch because of the polenta. We've been having hot weather here lately, so it's perfect for dessert or afternoon tea.

I have a similar recipe from an Italian cookbook which uses oil and no orange, which I'll be trying soon.

Ingredients:
250 g soft unsalted butter
175 g caster sugar
4 eggs
60 ml plain yogurt
zest of one orange, juice of half
half tsp orange oil if you have it (I found just the juice and zest was a strong enough flavour)
125 g fine (yellow) cornmeal/polenta
50 g plain flour
1 and a half tsp baking powder
To serve: mixed summer berries, and creme fraiche, marscapone or whipped cream

2 comments:

Rhyleysgranny said...

That looks lovely Arista. Lovely pic too. I love the flavour of orange or lemon in cakes. One to try

Oh my! Apple pie! said...

I'd love to try this recipe, it's right up my street, however, no-one else here would eat it, and I don't need the guilt of eating it all myself, lol. Looks delicious!