Happy 100 and a Revisit



I realised the other day that I was about to hit 100 posts on this blog.  This happy event coincided nicely with the fact that I’d just made the cake from my first ever blog post.  Although I cringe to look back at that post now I thought it was appropriate to revisit that cake because it really is a good cake and shouldn’t be languishing back there in obscurity.  At one time this cake was almost a weekly staple, especially through the winter months when citrus is at its best.  The cake is very moist and pretty dense.  The texture is almost pudding like.  Perfect with ice cream or my old favourite natural yoghurt.  For this version I used prunes rather than apricots because that’s what I had on hand.  I think they lend more moisture to the cake. 

 

My sister gave me the recipe and we have adapted it quite a bit.  I hunted around to find the original which is from Christine Bailey. 

Orange Polenta Cake

Zest of 2 oranges

Then peel and cut those oranges in to chunks

5oz dried prunes or apricots (or 7oz if not using the cranberries)

2oz dried cranberries

100g (4 ½ oz) butter

3 eggs

2 tbsp honey

35g (1 ½ oz) tapioca flour

50g (2 oz) brown rice flour

75g (3 oz) polenta

60g (2 ½ oz) ground almonds

2 tsp gluten free baking powder

Directions:

Grease and line a 9inch round cake tin with baking paper. Preheat Oven to Gas Mark 5, 190°C, 375°F.

In a food processor or blender mix together the orange zest, oranges, apricots, cranberries, butter, eggs and honey. You can do this by adding one ingredient at a time depending on how good your machine is. The end result should be a puree like consistency.

In a separate bowl mix the flours, polenta, almonds and baking powder together. Then beat in the puree.

Once well combined pour in to your cake tin and bake for approx 40-45 minutes until a skewer inserted in to the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the cake tin for about ten minutes then turn the cake out on to a wire rack to cool completely.