Orange, Polenta & Fennel Cake with a Yoghurt Glaze
This naturally gluten-free cake is a one-bowl affair so it comes together in no time. The hardest part is waiting for the cake to cool for glazing. You can also skip the sweet glaze, increasing the sugar in the cake to ½ cup (or not, if like me you like your sweet recipes not too sweet). Instant or “quick cook” polenta is used in this cake adding a light texture and gentle chew to the crumb. Only a small amount of polenta is needed as it absorbs a lot of moisture - about 3-4 times its weight. Finally, I have added fennel seeds to complement the orange. My garden begins to explode into fennel flowers in spring from the (florence fennel) bulbs I leave to flower and self-seed. Once they set seed I gather them in a jar for use in the kitchen. Fennel has a strong aniseed flavour, if this is not favoured then simply leave them out.
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup (180ml) unsweetened natural yoghurt
- 100 g melted butter or 100ml olive oil
- 3 eggs
- Zest and juice of 2 oranges, using 1/2 cup juice
- ⅓ cup sugar or honey
- ⅓ cup (60g) fine polenta (instant or quick cook)
- ½ cup (60g) ground almonds
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp ground fennel seeds optional
- Pinch salt
Yoghurt glaze:
- 1 tbsp unsweetened natural yoghurt
- ½ cup (80g) icing sugar
- Fennel flowers for decorating optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170ºC (fan 150ºC). Grease a 22cm round bundt tin, or grease and line a 20cm cake tin.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the yoghurt, melted butter/olive oil, eggs, zest and 1/2 cup orange juice, and sugar/honey.
- Add the remaining dry ingredients and continue to whisk until smooth. The batter will be very wet and runny, this is fine as the polenta will soak it up during cooking.
- Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 30-35 minutes until golden on the surface and an inserted skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes then invert onto a cooling rack.
- Make the yoghurt glaze if using. Combine the yoghurt and icing sugar in a bowl until smooth, taking your time to remove any lumps. Spoon over the cool cake and leave to set for an hour. Decorate with fennel flowers and serve cake wedges with a dollop of yoghurt.
- Store the cake in a sealed container and consume within 3 days.