Orange Polenta Cake

 

 

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Hotel Europe
http://www.theeurope.com/

Hotel Europe in Killarney is a lovely place to dine for gluten free dishes, and the staff are great, in other words you get what you pay for, good quality food and good service is worth every penny.

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This is my receipe of the week - Orange Polenta Cake



A rich moist cake with a dark spiced caramel..

Serves 8-10

Prep: 45 minutes
Cook: 1 hour

Ingredients

• 5 oranges: 2 peeled and thinly sliced, 2 chopped and 1 juiced
• 120g unsalted butter at room temperature, plus extra for greasing tin
• 280g sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tbsp ground cloves
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 30g plain gf flour, sieved
• 140g polenta
• 120g ground almonds
• Crème fraiche or yoghurt, to serve

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Butter a 20cm (8in) round cake tin and line with baking paper. Lay the orange slices over the base of the tin.
2. Place the chopped oranges in a pan of water and bring to the boil. Cook for 20 minutes, then drain. Transfer for a blender (or use a hand blender) and blend until almost smooth.
3. In a bowl cream the butter and 180g sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, combining well between each addition. Mix in the blended oranges, then fold in two-thirds of the ground cloves, followed by the baking powder, flour, polenta and ground almonds. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in its tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a plate.
4. To the make the clove and orange caramel, heat 100g sugar and the orange juice in a heavy-based pan, until the sugar and the orange juice in a heavy-based pan, until the sugar has dissolved and the liquid has thickened. When it turns golden brown, immediately take it off the heat and stir in the remaining ground cloves. Add a splash of water if the caramel is too thick to drizzle – it should be the consistency of honey.
5. Drizzle the syrup all over the cake and serve with a dollop of crème fraiche.