Orange Polenta Cake

This was a messy piece of work to make.  I used an awful lot of utensils and wished I had someone to follow me around and clean up.  It took over 2 hours to make (including baking and cooling).  The recipe was straight forward to make but I did change the order around little.  I prepared the oranges before the caramel instead of waiting as the recipe suggested for times sake.  The batter was on the thick side and tasty.  The article in Gourmet mentioned that the cake incorporated many tastes and textures…crumbly, zesty, citrus and rich caramel.  The cake turned out exactly like the picture on the Gourmet website 

Photograph by Romulo Yanes

Which was encouraging since the picture in the magazine was much lighter.  It was as the article said…crumbly, zesty, citrus and a rich caramel.

A couple things; I would have liked more caramel ….I’m not sure that I didn’t over bake the cake since it was VERY crumbly.  Not sure I would make this one again…it was okay in my opinion.

Note from me:  The tastes were okay...the texture not so okay, it just fell apart too easily.

ORANGE POLENTA CAKE

Serves 6 to 8

For the caramel orange layer

1/2 cup superfine granulated sugar

2 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits

2 navel oranges

 For the cake

1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 cup superfine granulated sugar

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons orange-flower water

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups ground almonds (7 oz)

2/3 cup quick-cooking polenta

For the glaze

1/4 cup orange marmalade

1 tablespoon water

Make the caramel orange layer:

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Lightly butter a 9-inch round cake pan, then line bottom with a round of parchment paper and side with a strip of parchment.

Grate zest from oranges and reserve for cake. Cut remaining peel, including white pith, from both oranges with a paring knife. Cut oranges crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Remove any seeds..

Bring sugar and water to a boil in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved, then wash down any sugar crystals from side of pan with a pastry brush dipped in cold water. Boil, without stirring, swirling pan occasionally so caramel colors evenly, until dark amber.

Remove from heat and add butter, swirling pan until incorporated, then carefully but quickly pour caramel into cake pan, tilting it to coat evenly.  Arrange slices in 1 layer over caramel.  Set aside and make cake batter

Make the cake:

Beat butter with sugar using an electric mixer until just combined. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in orange-flower water and reserved zest.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. With mixer at low speed, mix almonds, polenta, and flour mixture into egg mixture until just combined.

Spread batter evenly over oranges (preferably with an offset spatula). Bake until a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Cool in pan 5 minutes. Invert cake onto a cake plate and discard parchment.

Glaze the cake:

Heat marmalade with water in a small saucepan until melted. Strain through a sieve into a small bowl. Brush top of cake with some of glaze. Serve warm or at room temperature.

 NOTE: Cake, without glaze, can be made 1 day ahead and kept, wrapped well, at room temperature. Glaze before serving.

Adapted from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook and Gourmet February 2009