Blueberry, polenta and orange cake
Here’s a cake for all seasons. See that lovely fruit topping? We used blueberries but you don’t have to; there are so many other ways to skin this particular cat. Depending on what’s in season, you could use rhubarb, for instance, with a little more sugar scattered over given that rhubarb is tart. Later in the summer, you could use slices of peaches, apricots or nectarines; pitted cherries would be good too. As would strawberries, blackberries or a mixed berry situation. In autumn, plums would work well, as would chunks or slices of feijoa. The cake itself is super-soft and tender, so much so you could roll it out at dessert time, dolloped with whipped cream. We like ours for breakfast but then again, we say that every time we make a cake. This cake is also great as it doesn’t require the usual creaming of butter and sugar; you whisk eggs and sugar then stir in oil, juice and your dry ingredients, making it a little easier to make. We don’t even bother to use our stand cake mixer as hand-held electric beaters are well and truly up to the task.
MAKES A 20 x 20cm CAKE
275g (1¼ cup) caster sugar
375g (about 2⅓ cups) blueberries
150g (1 cup) plain flour
100g (1 cup) almond meal, plus extra, for dusting
90g (½ cup) instant polenta
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
finely grated zest of 1 large orange
160ml (⅔ cups) extra virgin olive oil, plus extra, for greasing
125ml (½ cup) freshly squeezed orange juice
Preheat the oven to 180˚C. Lightly grease the sides of a 20 x 20cm cake tin, then lightly dust with almond meal. Line the base with baking paper. Scatter the blueberries and 55g (¼ cup) caster sugar over the base of the tin.
Combine the flour, almond meal, polenta, baking powder and salt in a bowl and whisk to combine well. Set aside.
Combine the remaining sugar and the eggs in a large bowl then, using electric beaters, whisk until the mixture is thick and pale. Add the vanilla and zest, then slowly whisk in the olive oil. Add the flour mixture and orange juice, stirring until smooth. Pour the batter over the berries in the tin, smoothing the top even, then bake for 1 hour or until a cake tester withdraws clean. Cool the cake in the tin. Run a knife around the edges to loosen, then invert onto a plate.
