Moist, golden, and delicately perfumed with orange — this Italian-inspired cake lets great olive oil take centre stage.
Ingredients
- 200ml Nikkitas Extra Virgin Olive Oil, plus extra for greasing
- 200g caster sugar
- 3 large eggs
- Zest and juice of 2 oranges
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 200g ground almonds
- 100g fine polenta
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- Pinch of fine salt
- Icing sugar, to dust
- Crème fraîche or Greek yoghurt, to serve
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (fan 160°C). Grease a 23cm round cake tin with a little olive oil and line the base with baking parchment.
- Whisk the olive oil and caster sugar together in a large bowl until combined. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the orange juice and both zests.
- Fold in the ground almonds, polenta, baking powder and salt until you have a smooth, glossy batter.
- Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 35–40 minutes, until deep golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cover loosely with foil in the last 10 minutes if it colours too quickly.
- Leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm or at room temperature with a generous spoonful of crème fraîche.
