Let Them Eat Cake...Let Them Eat Orange and Pomegranate Polenta Cake...

September 25, 2021

Let Them Eat Cake...Let Them Eat Orange and Pomegranate Polenta Cake...

Cake for breakfast is fine in my World and this cake cannot help but put a smile on your face. It will ignite your day with a breakfast moment that will ensure that the rest of your day is a good one. Made with fresh oranges and pomegranate, natures superfoods, you receive your daily Vitamin C dose, so all guilt assuaged. Its influence comes from a Sicilian polenta cake I once tried, made from fresh lemons, sticky and sharp, delicious. My version uses fresh oranges and includes pomegranate, by way of molasses, and some ground almonds. A nod to Sicily’s rich Arab heritage, a heritage that has influenced the style of cooking in Sicily, it is a delicious cuisine, I would encourage anyone to explore it.

This scented breakfast cake made from ground almonds and polenta has a dense, grainy texture, made moist from a sweet caramel running through. The intense flavours of the oranges and pomegranate, both equally sharp, initially jostle for position on the tongue. They soon settle down however, and are a very good marriage.

The smells created in the kitchen are amazing when preparing this cake. For a wake-up aroma, it would be a hard one to beat. This cake is like sunshine. Quite rich and a small slice will suffice, not too sweet, definitely fragrant. Alongside a strong short espresso and eaten warm, with a fork, some chilled natural yoghurt, you are guaranteed that good day. Tasting even better the next day, the flavours intensify. However it would be a rare occasion that it would make it that far. So for optimum results bake the day before, hide it, then finish in the morning that way it gets to the table when it is supposed to.

Orange and Pomegranate Polenta Cake

Cake Mix

4 large juicy oranges

200 gms caster sugar

200 gms butter

4 large free-range eggs

50 gms plain flour

300 gms ground almonds

50 gms fine polenta

1/2 tspn salt

1 tspn baking powder

2 tblspns pomegranate molasses

Caramel Mix

4 tblspns pomegranate molasses

200 gms caster sugar

Juice of 2 oranges

To Finish

Toasted slivered almonds

Fresh pomegranate seeds

Chilled natural yoghurt to serve and an espresso.

Get everything ready first, it makes this cake really easy to prepare. All ingredients should be room temperature, eggs out of the fridge for at least 2 hours and butter soft. Weigh out all of the dry ingredients into a bowl. Wash the oranges and dry well and zest them on a grater and add this to the dry mix.

Butter well a 30 cm cake pan. The base needs to be buttered a little heavier and cover this with a good sprinkle of caster sugar. Prepare your oranges and carefully cut the skins away taking as much of the pith off as possible. Slice into good slices and place neatly in the pan. Neatish.

Next cream together the butter and the sugar with an electric whisk or of course by hand if you prefer, time allowing. Slowly add in the eggs one at a time and finally add the scented pomegranate molasses. Combine well till it forms a batter. Sift in the dry ingredients and combine.

Carefully spoon the batter over the orange base, smooth down with a spatula. Put the cake pan onto a baking sheet to avoid any spillages and place in the middle of your cold oven and turn the heat to 170C/325F/gas mark 3. The reasoning for the cold oven is when your oven heats from below, the cake cooks through the oranges, butter and sugar on the base first, it also seems to make it crispier around the edges. Even if your oven heats differently this cold to hot method works for this cake. Remove from the oven after about 40-45 minutes. Test by sticking the sharp point of a knife into the centre if it comes out clean it is cooked. Let it rest in the pan awhile, it will shrink slightly from the pan's edges. Next is the exciting bit, there is always a risk of disaster, enjoy the challenge. Place your serving plate over the cake pan and flip it carefully but assuredly so that the oranges are now on top.

Whilst the cake is cooling make the caramel. Place the sugar, freshly squeezed orange juice and pomegranate molasses into a pan, heat slowly until the sugar has dissolved completely. Gently brush this over the oranges and pour into the cracks between the orange slices, soak it in. Toast a few almond slices and sprinkle along with some fresh pomegranate seeds on the top. Let it sit and reach room temperature. This is when it really is at its best. The caramel has had chance to run through the cake, sweet, fragrant, sharp and truly delicious.