Orange and Chocolate Polenta Cake

On Wednesday evening B was out at his pottery class in a railway arch, and home alone as I was, I set about on a sporadic baking frenzy. This orange and chocolate polenta cake was the result. A result I was rather pleased with. Store-cupboard staples with lots of fresh oranges and a few chunks of chocolate for good measure ended up with a gluten-free, super moist (sorry!) loaf with a dark crust and lashings of sugary orange syrup. It disappeared pretty fast.

Orange and Chocolate Polenta Cake

For the cake:

4 eggs

170ml olive oil

170g caster sugar

Zest of 2 oranges

100g ground almonds

140g polenta

1 tsp baking powder

100g dark chocolate

For the syrup

150ml orange juice

55g caster sugar

1. Heat the oven to 180°C

2. Grease and line a loaf tin
3. Beat together the egg yolks, oil, 150g caster sugar and orange zest until smooth
4. Mix the dry ingredients together
5. Fold dry ingredients into oil and sugar mixture
6. Whisk egg whites to stiff peaks, then beat in the remaining 20g caster sugar
7. Fold the egg whites into the cake mixture a few tablespoons at a time. Don't worry if this seems tricky at first, the mixture will loosen up as you go
8. Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean

9. While it's baking make the syrup: heat the fruit juice with the caster sugar until the sugar dissolves, then let it boil for 1 minute, before leaving it to cool

10.Pierce the cake with the toothpick

11. When the cake is cool, pour over the syrup and leave to seep through the cake before cutting in!

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Dan Lepard's Carrot, Orange & Pistachio Cake

It often happens that there's people coming round for a lazy lunch on a Sunday, I've already cooked everything I need to, but then I decide I need to make a cake too. Just in case. In case of what? I don't know. In case someone suddenly needs cake. And it seems that many people, when they see cake, do suddenly need cake. Cake never goes to waste.

And so it was that after a sleepy Sunday morning, everything ready and prepared for the arriving friends, I set about making Dan Lepard's carrot, orange and pistachio cake. This means they arrive to a scene of chaos rather than the scene of calm that had existed previously. Dan's little introduction to this recipe is so charming that the irresistible immediately becomes a necessary requirement in one's life. As an added bonus there's a little bit of health tucked away in this layer cake. I left off the top layer of icing as a nod to that vague notion. I'm not sure it counts as a health food but it's near enough for me.

Luckily for you, the recipe can be found here. That's your bank holiday weekend sorted. You're welcome.

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Rose Bakery Lemon Loaf

What do you do when it's a spring Satuday afternoon, you have people coming for tea, and no cake has been planned, no ingredients bought? Make lemon cake. Obvs.

Not one of Rose Carrarini's healthiest numbers. But definitely one of her best. The recipe can be found in her chic book, 'Breakfast, Lunch, Tea'. Simple, spongey, bright, and perfectly citrusy. With a sugary sweet lemon icing, which does wonders for the photos...

I actually ended up using one goose egg instead of the four eggs asked for. A new one for me. It seemed to be a fairly accurate substitution. The yolk of the egg being so large, the cake was definitely richer, and more perfectly Easter yellow than it would have otherwise been. Even if I did have problems cracking into the thing. 

Serve on a blustery but warm spring day, with many cups of tea.

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Lemon Pudding Cake with Berries

We've just finished a long Sunday lunch. Too many of us to fit round the table so we sat on the floor, basking in the sunlight, food scattered over the table. Pumpkin ravioli was the order for the day. Sage butter, toasted pecans, carefully grated parmesan scattered on top. Torn salad leaves and slices of avocado bringing brightness and crunch. 

B did all the pasta work as usual. The rest of us provided a helping hand here and there. I was left to pudding.

Celebrating the sunshine, the blue skies, the beautiful blossoms on the tree, it was love at first sight with Bill Granger's Lemon pudding cake with berries. Yellow and pink, spongey and light. Egg whites whipped up into stiff peaks, folded into the zesty mix, the frozen raspberries already thawing underneath, put in a bain marie (which meant lots of boiling water on my foot. Ouch), and in the oven for 50 minutes. Out comes a puffed and golden delight. The perfect weather for this perfect spring day. A good dose of sunshine and this sweet pudding makes for a happy Sunday.

Recipe from Bill Granger's Easy. Can be found online here.

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Citrus Polenta Cake

B has instigated a bit of a polenta obsession round here lately. And he's done such wonderful things with it I had to prove myself by using it too. Sharing a delicious slice of orange and chocolate polenta cake in the office last week made sure that this weekend, polenta and cake were going to meet.

Leith's Baking Bible was called forth from its parking space on the shelf. I didn't have the exact ingredients so fiddled with it slightly. But only slightly. And I'm making the poppy seeds essential. They should not be optional. Neither should a dollop of crème fraîche to serve.

Citrus Polenta Cake (from Leith's Baking Bible, with a couple of teeny alterations)

4 eggs

170ml olive oil

170g caster sugar

zest of 1 orange

zest of 1 lemon

100g ground almonds

140g polenta

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp poppy seeds

150ml lemon and orange juice

55g caster sugar

1. Heat the oven to 180°C

2. Grease and line a 23cm spring-form tin

3. Beat together the egg yolks, oil, 150g caster sugar and zests until smooth

4. Mix the dry ingredients together, then fold into the egg mixture

5. Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks, then beat in the remaining caster sugar

6. Fold into the cake mixture, a few tablespoons at a time

7. Bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean

8. While its baking, and your kitchen is filled with beautiful smells, heat the fruit juice with the caster sugar until the sugar dissolves. Then boil the mixture for 1 minute before leaving to cool

9. Pierce the cake, helping it cool, and when it is cool, cover in the syrup. Leave it for as many minutes as you can before cutting in.

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