Upside-down Blood Orange Polenta Cake

by Liz Child
Bring a little warm sunshine in your winter kitchen with beautiful, organic blood oranges from Italy.

Blood oranges are in season now and they are unmissable! Add them to your order here to make the most of their short season. They are sweeter and more perfumed than regular oranges and our organic ones are wax free. Zest to make the most of the bright, citrus flavour in their orange oil scented skin before slicing. Stir the zest through this pancake batter or through the polenta cake batter in the recipe below.

Polenta cakes are naturally gluten free and go so well with citrus flavours. They are moist and moreish with a gorgeous, sunny crumb…possibly my favourite type of cake! This is a riff on a classic lemon polenta cake recipe which is normally baked, then soaked with a zingy lemon syrup. In this recipe, instead of the lemon syrup, I have placed juicy slices of blood orange in the bottom of the cake tin to make the most of their stunning, ombre blush.

Let us know in the comments of over on our facebook group if you make this cake. I’d love to see your photos. Liz x

Ingredients

Method

Preheat the oven to 175C. Butter a 23cm cake tin with the tbsp of butter (preferably a loose bottomed one, but a regular cake tin is fine too).

Zest the oranges into a mixing bowl. Then trim a thin slice off the top and bottom of the oranges, and using a small, sharp knife, slice off the skin and white pith. Then slice the oranges into discs and arrange them in a neat layer in the bottom of the buttered cake tin.

Measure the rest of the ingredients into the mixing bowl with the orange zest and whisk until smooth.

Pour the batter over the layer of orange slices, even it out with a spatular and bake for 30 minutes.

Allow the cake to mostly cool in the tin. Then run a knife around to loosen it from the sides. Put a plate over the cake tin and turn it upside down. Carefully lift the cake tin off the plate and you should be left with a beautiful upside down cake. You may need to pop bits that stick to the bottom of the cake tin back onto the cake.

TIP: if you don’t have ground almonds you can easily make your own. Just blend whole or blanched almonds in a food processor until they resemble a rough flour.

Pancakes with Blood Orange, Yogurt & Almonds

by Liz Child

Pancake day just so happens to fall at the same time that blood oranges are in season so I couldn’t resist combining the two. Here I mixed up a batch of my simple flat pancake batter (recipe below) with the zest of a couple of blood oranges, then served them with a dollop of yogurt and a squeeze of blood orange. Folded it up and sprinkled with our organic whole cane sugar and toasted, flaked almonds. Utter heaven!

Blood oranges are a beautiful member of the citrus family, they are usually sweeter than regular oranges and the organic ones we source are pretty special. Early on in the season they just have an ombre blush of raspberry flavoured red like these, then as as the season goes on they get to a deeper, almost purple colour. Spectacular to slice open and such a special, seasonal treat. One blood orange contains 75% of your recommended daily vitamin C dose. Add them to your order here today, they won’t be in season for long.

Ingredients (makes 8 crepes)

Method

Measure the flour, milk, salt, baking powder, olive oil and sugar into a bowl and whisk into a smooth batter. I don’t bother getting out the scales as this recipe is very forgiving, just use a mug to measure out the flour and milk.

Zest the two blood oranges into the batter and stir to combine. Allow the batter to rest for at least 20 minutes. You can even make the batter the night before and keep it covered in the fridge.

Heat up a non-stick frying pan or better yet, a pancake pan, to a medium-high heat.

Toast a handful or two of flaked almonds in the dry pan and then put them aside into a small bowl.

Melt a tbsp of butter or vegetable oil in the pan and swirl to coat the base of the pan.

Add a ladle of pancake batter and swirl to create a thin, flat pancake. Let it cook for a minute or so on the first side before carefully flipping and cooking the other side for a further minute. You know it’s ready to flip when it is golden brown underneath and comes away from the pan easily.

Serve warm with a dollop of yogurt and a squeeze of blood orange in the middle of the pancake. Fold it up into quarters, sprinkle over some sugar and flaked almonds and serve with a wedge or two of blood orange.

Repeat with all of the batter and enjoy!