Cakes & Cupcakes
Whole Orange, Cardamom and Polenta Cake
An incredibly moist and flavourful cake, fragrant with freshly ground cardamom and free from gluten and dairy.
We were having dinner with a friend a few weeks back and, unsurprisingly, I wanted to bake something to take along. I thought that this orange, cardamom and polenta cake would be the perfect accompaniment to the end of a meal. I also wanted to create something Eid-inspired, as I have many Muslim friends and colleagues.
I have seen a few recipes around which call for using an entire orange in a cake recipe, but to date have been sceptical about trying it. Not anymore though! Using the entire orange packs such a citrusy punch, and the addition of cardamom adds wonderful warmth and aroma. As usual, using freshly ground cardamom is worlds better than store-bought ground cardamom.
I love this cake with a cup of tea. It is super moist due to the spiced soaking syrup which is added to the cake once it is baked. It can be dressed up with some whipped or clotted cream as well, for a delicious dessert.
This recipe was adapted from Heinstirred's Tokara's orange polenta cake.
The recipe
Whole Orange, Cardamom and Polenta Cake
adventureswithsugar.com/whole-orange-cardamom-and-polenta-cake/
Method
Method: syrup
- Combine the syrup ingredients: Add the vanilla bean and seeds to a pot, along with the sugar, spices, salt and water.
- Simmer: Bring to a gentle simmer and simmer for about 5 minutes, until the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from the heat.
- Add the brandy or juice: Add in the brandy or orange juice, whichever you choose to use.
- Infuse and strain: For a better depth of flavour, let the syrup infuse for a few hours, or at least 30 minutes, before straining out the spices.
Method: whole orange, cardamom and polenta cake
- Simmer the oranges: Place the oranges in a pot and cover with water. Gently simmer them for 75 minutes, or until a knife pierced into them goes through easily.
- Let cool: Remove the oranges from the pot and let them cool for about 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven and prepare the tin: Preheat the oven to 180˚ Celsius. Grease and line the base and sides of a 23cm springform tin with baking paper.
- Purée the oranges: Roughly chop the oranges, with the skin on, remove the pips and blend in a food processor to form a smooth puree.
- Whisk the eggs and sugar: Place the eggs, sugar, vanilla and orange zest in a bowl and whisk on high speed for about five minutes, until it has doubled in volume.
- Add the oil: Stream the oil into the eggs and sugar mixture and mix until well incorporated.
- Fold in the remaining ingredients: Add the almonds, polenta, baking powder and orange puree to the egg, sugar and oil mixture and gently fold until everything is well combined.
- Bake: Pour the mixture into a baking tin and bake for about 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
- Cool and turn out: Leave the cake to cool in the tin for about 15 minutes, before turning it out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Transfer to a plate: Only once completely cooled, transfer the cake to a serving plate.
- Soak with syrup: Prick the cake all over and spoon on the syrup, letting the syrup soak in before adding more.
Method: dried oranges
- Slice the oranges: Thinly slice the oranges into rounds.
- Dry in the oven: Place in the oven to dry at about 80˚ Celsius, turning every half hour or so.
- Check the timing: Depending on how thinly they are sliced, they can take up to three hours.
- Decorate: Add them to the cake for added decoration and brush over some of the syrup.
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