The Best Polenta Orange Cake
Amazing polenta orange cake! It is soaked with syrup, sosoft, moist, and delicious! The best sweet polenta cake I have ever had!
Prep Time20 minutes mins
Cook Time45 minutes mins
Total Time1 hour hr 5 minutes mins
Course: Desserts
Cuisine: Romanian
Servings: 12
Calories: 238kcal
Cake:
- 150 g 1 cup medium cornmeal (5.5 oz), Note 2
- 50 g ¼ cup fine/soft semolina (1.8 oz)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 tablespoon grated orange peel optional (Note 3)
- 3 eggs large
- 125 g ⅔ cup granulated sugar (4.5 oz)
- 2 tablespoons vanilla sugar or 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 450 g 1 ¾ cup Greek yogurt (1 lb), divided
- 100 ml scant ½ cup vegetable oil ( 3.5 fl.oz)
- 50 ml scant ¼ cup milk (1.7 fl.oz)
- icing sugar to dust
- 1 orange to decorate optional
For the orange syrup:
- the juice of 2-3 oranges about 100 ml/ 3.4 fl. oz/ scant ½ cup fresh juice
- 50 g ¼ cup sugar (1.7 oz)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Sweet polenta cake:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius/ 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter a casserole dish, 28x18 cm/ 11x7 inches.
Mix the cornmeal, semolina, baking powder, and grated orange peel in a bowl. Set aside.
Eggs: Separate the eggs. Beat the egg whites until stiff and set aside. In a larger bowl, beat the egg yolks, sugar, vanilla sugar, or vanilla extract and 50 g/ 1.7 oz/ scant ¼ cup of the yogurt until pale and thick.
Add the vegetable oil in a slow stream while beating all the time.
Add the rest of the yogurt and beat for about 1 minute.
Add the milk and mix shortly.
Slowly add the cornmeal – semolina mixture mixing with a regular egg beater/whisk this time.
Fold in the egg whites carefully.
Bake: Pour the mixture into the prepared dish and bake for about 45 minutes or until the cake is golden and a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Orange syrup:
In the meantime, make the orange syrup. Juice the oranges until you have about 100 ml/ ½ cup juice. Sieve the juice into a small pot add the sugar and the lemon juice.
When it starts to boil, remove it immediately, you should have a relatively thin syrup.
Poke cake: When baked, take the cake out of the oven and prick it all over with a toothpick.
Soak cake: Pour about ¾ of the syrup all over the cake. Add a bit more around the edges, should they be drier than the rest of the cake.
Cool completely in the dish. Cut the cake into squares, remove carefully from the baking dish and sprinkle with icing sugar. Decorate with orange wedges if you wish.
-
A digital kitchen scale will give you the most precise measure ensuring the best bake possible (Amazon affiliate link).
- Look for a sort with a short cooking time – mine needed only 10 minutes.
- From an organic, unwaxed orange.
Serving: 1square | Calories: 238kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 49mg | Sodium: 120mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 18g