Blood Orange Polenta Cake
Food shopping is fun, I love it, especially when I need to re-stock on my baking ingredients. There’s nothing that excites me more than buying chocolate, cocoa powder, flour, sugar and various fruits to bake with. I usually go shopping with a list and try to buy only what’s on the list. Only try as every single time I end up buying something that’s not on the list – and exactly this is what happened with these beautiful blood oranges. The moment I grabbed them from the food aisle my mind was already imagining all sorts of desserts using them and that beautiful red color of the orange juice. I was so excited that I forgot to buy flour, no kidding!
Polenta is very common in Romania. It’s a dish we pair with many things, from steak to stews or soups or my favorite – with feta cheese and sour cream. But desserts using polenta are rare and only known in some parts of the country. In fact, I vaguely remember a polenta dessert from my childhood and I clearly never tasted one as an adult. Until now that is because I totally love this polenta cake and it really blew my mind away with its texture and delicate taste. Of course you could replace the polenta flour with all-purpose flour, but it’s not going to have that slightly crunch when you bite into it and the color won’t be as yellow and beautiful. The blood oranges are not compulsory and could be replaced with simple oranges or maybe lemons. But look at that beautiful pink glaze! It’s only made with orange juice and powdered sugar and it looks so delicate and pretty, don’t you think?!
Blood Orange Polenta Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
- 250 g butter (softened)
- 200 g sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 200 g all-purpose flour
- 140 g polenta flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- Juice from 2 small blood oranges
Blood orange glaze:
- 120 g powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons blood orange juice
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat your oven to 350°F – 180°C and line a loaf pan with parchment paper. Place it aside until needed.
- Mix the butter with sugar for 5 minutes or until fluffy and creamy.
- Stir in the eggs, one by one, mixing well after each egg addition. Stir in the vanilla and orange zest as well.
- Combine the flour with polenta, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Mix half of the flour into the batter.
- Add the orange juice and fold in the remaining half of the flour mixture.
- Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.
- When done, remove from the oven and let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Turn the cake upside down on a platter and let it cool completely.
Blood orange glaze:
- Combine the powdered sugar with blood orange juice and mix well.
- The glaze should be thick but still slightly runny. If it’s too thin, add more sugar until it reaches the desired consistency. If it’s too thick, add a few drops of orange juice at a time until it thins down to the consistency you’re after.
- Pour the glaze over the chilled cake and let it set.
- Decorate with blood orange slices if you wish.
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