Orange Cornmeal Cake

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup olive oil, plus more for pan
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar, plus 1/3 cup for topping
• 1/2 cup dry white wine, (or orange juice)
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
• 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Finely grated zest of 1 orange

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush bottom and sides of an 8-inch round cake pan with oil; line bottom with a round of wax or parchment paper, and brush paper with oil.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together oil, eggs, 1 cup sugar, and wine until smooth. Add flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and orange zest; whisk gently to combine.
3. Pour batter into prepared pan; sprinkle top evenly with remaining 1/3 cup sugar (topping will be thick). Bake until cake begins to pull away from sides of pan and a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes.
4. Cool in pan 20 minutes. Run a knife around edge of cake; invert cake gently onto a plate, and remove parchment paper. Reinvert cake onto a rack to cool completely. Serve with orange segments, if desired

What I did differently

Since I didn't have orange zest, I squeezed the juice of an orange into the mixing bowl


Results


The cake had assembled itself into two layers - a thin top, and a thick bottom.  The upper crust and sides had turned golden brown, while the inside was a pleasant shade of yellow ( due to the corn meal.)


The sweetness of the sugar and orange juice was nicely balanced by the blandness of the corn meal, and the sprinkled sugar on top provided the necessary crunch to this delicious cake.  




Citrus Delight - 8/10