Orange Cardamom Polenta Cake With Chocolate Sauce Recipes

ORANGE & POLENTA CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F/gas 2½. Grease a 20cm springform tin, line the bottom and sides with greaseproof paper and grease again.
• Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and creamy - don't worry if it looks gritty, as the sugar will dissolve when it's cooked. Beat in the eggs, one by one, then stir in the vanilla essence.
• In a small bowl, combine the ground almonds, polenta, orange zest, orange blossom water and baking powder, then stir this into the cake mix.
• Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the surface is light brown and the cake is coming away slightly from the sides of the tin.
• Remove the tin from the oven, leave to cool for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a plate. This cake will be quite fragile, so handle carefully as you remove it.
• To make the syrup, crush the cardamom pods, then put all of the ingredients in a saucepan. Simmer over a medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, or until reduced and thickened slightly. Set aside to cool.
• Prick the cake all over with a skewer, then brush generously with the syrup. Delicious served with a dollop of crème fraîche or yoghurt and an extra drizzle of syrup.

MOROCCAN ORANGE & CARDAMOM CAKE

Steps:

• Put the whole oranges in a pan, cover with water and boil, covered, for 1 hr until a knife easily pierces them. If the oranges won't stay under the water, place a small saucepan lid directly on top to keep them submerged. Remove the oranges from the water and cool, then quarter and remove any seeds and obvious pith where the stalk was. Blitz the oranges to a rough purée with a hand blender or in a food processor and put in a large bowl.
• Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3 and line the base and sides of a 21cm loose-bottomed cake tin with baking parchment. Beat the cardamom, xylitol and eggs into the orange purée, then mix the ground almonds with the polenta, flour and baking powder, and fold in until well blended. Scrape the mixture into the tin, level the top and bake for 40 mins.
• After 40 minutes, scatter over the almonds, quickly return to the oven and bake 20-25 mins more until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the tin and leave to cool. Serve sliced as a cake, or with Greek yogurt or cream as a dessert.

POLENTA CAKE WITH ORANGE SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9-inch springform pan and dust with flour.
• Combine butter and sugar in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until light and creamy. Beat eggs in a separate bowl until light and foamy and mix into the butter-sugar mixture.
• Sift flour, polenta, and baking powder together. Fold into the batter. Stir in rum, lemon juice, orange juice, lemon zest, and orange zest. Pour batter into the prepared springform pan and level with a spatula.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Cover top with aluminum foil if it starts browning too quickly.
• Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Run a table knife around the edges to loosen. Remove carefully onto a serving plate or cooling rack. Let cool completely.
• Stir orange juice and orange marmalade together in a saucepan. Heat over low heat until it has reduced to a thick sauce, 5 to 10 minutes. Slice cake and drizzle with orange sauce.

ORANGE CARDAMOM POLENTA CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE SAUCE

Steps:

• In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar together until creamy. Add the orange zest and beat for another minute or two to pulverize the zest in order to release the natural orange oil. Add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Break open the cardamom pods and grind the little black seeds into a powder with a pestle and morter and add to the mixer. Grind the almonds in the bowl of a food processor. Add the cornmeal and continue pulse-choping the almonds into a fine crumb. Add, along with the baking powder to the mixture. Juice the oranges and pour into the mixer. Spoon into a 9-inch springform tin lined with parchment paper. Smooth the top with a rhubber spatula. Bake in a preheated 325 degrees F oven for 50 minutes. Combine the orange and lemon juice with the honey and set aside until the cake has finished baking. For the chocolate sauce, combine in a saucepan the chocolate, cocoa and water. Heat gently to melt the chocolate. Once melted add the sugar, corn syrup and butter. Stir to dissolve the sugar and melt the butter. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 5 minutes. Add vanilla. Once the cake is cooked, remove from the oven and pour over the syrup. A light trick of the trade: Never pour a hot syrup on a hot cake, or a cold syrup on a cold cake as you will end up with a soggy cake. But a cold syrup on a hot cake with yield perfect results. Serve the cake in wedges with a ladle of chocolate sauce on the plate. Creme fraiche is a welcome addition as it adds richness whilst its acidity balances the sweet syrup. The citris-aromatic cake works well with the sublte flavors within the chocolate. Different brands of chocolate yield very different results. Some of my favorites are: Schphenberger for its fruit, Callebaut with its coffee back note, and Green and Blacks which has both flavors mentioned.

ORANGE POLENTA CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Line the base and sides of a round 23cm cake tin with baking parchment. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and mix thoroughly. Once the mixture is combined, add all the dry ingredients and the zest and juice after you have measured off 100ml for the glaze.
• Transfer the mixture to the tin, spread evenly, then cook for about 45 mins or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
• To make the glaze, put the juice and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil. Let it simmer for 5 mins, then remove from the heat and allow to cool. Drizzle the orange glaze over the top of the cooled cake. Serve with Lemon ice cream, below.

ORANGE CHOCOLATE LOAF CAKE FROM FLORIDA

Steps:

• Adjust rack one-third up from the bottom of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. You will need a loaf pan measuring about 8½ x 4½ x 2¾ inches, or one with about a 6‑cup capacity. Butter the pan and dust it all over lightly with fine, dry bread crumbs, shake out excess crumbs, and set the pan aside.
• Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, cocoa, and sugar and set aside.
• Beat the cream and vanilla in the small bowl of an electric mixer until the cream holds a definite shape. On low speed, add the eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula and beating only until the egg is incorporated after each addition. (The eggs will thin the cream slightly.)
• Transfer to the large bowl of the mixer and gradually, on low speed, add the sifted dry ingredients, scraping the bowl and beating only until smooth. Remove from the mixer and stir in the grated zest. That's all there is to it.
• Turn the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for about 1 hour and 5 minutes, until the top springs back when lightly pressed with a fingertip.
• For the glaze:
• As soon as the cake goes into the oven, mix the orange juice with the sugar and let it stand while the cake is baking.
• After you remove the cake from the oven, let it cool for 5 minutes. Then, a little at a time, brush the orange juice/sugar mixture all over the cake; encourage most of it to run down the sides between the cake and the pan, but thoroughly wet the top also. The cake will absorb it all.
• Let the cake stand in the pan until it is completely cool. Then cover the pan loosely with a piece of wax paper. Invert the cake into the palm of your hand-easy does it-remove the pan, cover the cake with a rack, and invert again, leaving the cake right side up.