Sunday, August 04, 2013

Orange Olive Oil Cornmeal Cake (Gluten Free)—Secret Recipe Club

Gluten Free Orange Cornmeal Olive Oil Cake--Aug. SRC

For Secret Recipe Club this month I was assigned a new-to-me blog.  I enjoyed looking through Easily Good Eats.  There were so many recipes to choose from, many being somewhat different from the kind of recipes I make.  This blogger is in a different country, but I was not able to figure out what country.  I saw one post that mentioned something about Swedes, so maybe the blogger is in Sweden. ?  No matter, they love cooking and baking for themselves and friends outside their “real” life in finance and law.

When I saw this Orange Olive Oil Polenta Cake, I realized it didn’t have very much gluten in it—since most of the flours were cornmeal and almond flour.  New to baking gluten free, I emailed our Group A leader, Jane, and asked her what to use to replace half a cup of all purpose flour, since she does all kinds of gluten free goodies.  The direction she gave me turned out a wonderful cake!  I also wanted the cake to be made with unrefined sugar, so though I do use more often lately raw honey, coconut sugar or dates, I used organic natural cane sugar this time and called it a big splurge for me.   I know, living on the edge. ;)

The cake was simple to make once I got through the first step which was interesting.  I boiled two whole oranges for an hour, then let them cool to room temperature before cutting them up and pureeing them in the food processor.  I can certainly say that is something I’ve never done before, though for Tuesdays With Dorie a few years back, we made a lemon tart with whole lemons in it.  The whole oranges were something I was intrigued with using in a cake.  I would make this cake again for sure.

Boiled Oranges Ready to Puree

Boiled oranges ready to puree

Whole Oranges Pureed

Pureed Whole Oranges

The whole oranges definitely make orange the star of this cake.  If you haven’t made a cake with olive oil before, do not fear, you cannot taste the olive oil.  I did use a light olive oil instead of extra virgin olive oil but Easily Good Eats mentioned using extra virgin olive oil and it was still not detectible. 

I loved that the cake was dense but still plenty moist and was perfectly flat on top.  (Sometimes with the higher altitude I live in, my cakes sink a little in the middle and it irks me.) I loved the texture and slight nuttiness the almond flour and cornmeal gave the cake.  At Easily Good Eats it was referred to as polenta cake, I used cornmeal, so I changed that in the title and recipe, though I believe polenta and cornmeal to be pretty much the same.

Orange Olive Oil Cornmeal Cake

Orange Olive Oil Cornmeal Cake (Gluten Free and Refined Sugar Free), by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

For the cake:

2 oranges

1/2 cup light olive oil

3 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup organic pure natural cane sugar

6 tablespoons brown rice flour*

2 tablespoons tapioca starch*

pinch of xanthan gum*

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup almond meal/flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

For the glaze:***

Juice of 1 orange (about 5 tablespoons)

2 tablespoons raw honey

Boil two whole oranges in a pot of water for an hour.  Make sure they are completely submerged the whole time.  To do this, I put a smaller saucepan pan on top of the oranges to hold them under the water (otherwise, they float).  Once boiled, remove them from the water and let them cool to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Lightly grease and flour (I used brown rice flour) an 8 inch round cake pan. 

Cut the oranges into quarters, remove any seeds and puree it in a food processor.  Whisk together the eggs, sugar and olive oil until the sugar is completely dissolved.  Add the orange puree and mix well.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, almond flour, the gluten free flour mixture and the baking powder.  Mix the dry ingredients in to the orange mixture and stir until just combined.    Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake for one hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

For the glaze, juice the orange and whisk together with the honey.  Cook in a small saucepan over medium heat until it thickens slightly.    Drizzle the glaze over slices of the cake.  (You might want to double the glaze to have enough for the whole cake.  

Orange Olive OIl Cornmeal Cake (SRC)Just for fun and because I think chocolate and orange are a great combination, I took a slice of the cake and drizzled it with some melted dark chocolate.  Mmm, that was good!

I am happy with the recipe I made from Easily Good Eats and have a number of other recipes there that I plan to try soon.  Check out all the other posts for the Secret Recipe Club.

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10 comments:

Jane Bonacci, The Heritage Cook said...

This looks amazing Katrina and I especially like your idea to drizzle a slice with chocolate. This may just show up in a future Chocolate Monday post, LOL!! Great job with the GF baking at high altitude - that is a double whammy!!

angela@spinachtiger said...

Absolutely timely. I'm eating gluten free for a month and this looks divine.

Lisa said...

With a cake like that, I don't think I'd miss the gluten. I'm definitely intrigued by the whole oranges thing too. Looks fantastic!

Sara said...

This looks delicious! What a great way of using the oranges!

Unknown said...

Beautiful! You are totally rockin' the gluten free goodies!

Three-Cookies said...

I am glad you enjoyed them. The cake is delicious for sure.
And yes I live in Sweden, good guess.

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness, that looks amazing! I bet that chocolate drizzle was just perfect with the orange.

vanillasugarblog said...

That is one nice and high cake for being GF.
Love that you put chocolate on it.

Trisha said...

Katrina, the cake looks yum, but the addition of that chocolate drizzle makes it look divine.

Nutmeg nanny said...

wow, this cake looks perfect! I love orange cake :)