Ugh, I was craving something sweet over the weekend but I wanted to try something different and use up some stuff we had in our pantry.
I was craving chocolate cake….but yeah…you can’t just going around eating chocolate cake everyday (or maybe you can, more power to ya).
As I scoured the pantry I saw a big ol’ bag of polenta just calling my name.
Polenta, which is made from cornmeal in the US, is used in various ways of Italian cuisine. It can be made into a paste or dough, and can be boiled, baked, fried…lots of options!
Usually people think of polenta as a savory dish, but I had some inspiration to make this into a sweet cake.
Disclaimer: it is polenta and not a REAL cake, however, it’s tasty as fuck and is gluten free, so I would say it’s def something comparable.
Of course I put my Indian flare on this dish, adding in some freshly ground cardamom, orange, honey and rose water.
The aroma of the rose water makes me literally drool, and I love the addition of almond flour and pistachio dust to bring a slight nuttiness to this cake.
So if you are looking for a dessert that is a little out of the box. I GOT YOU.
Think of this as a sweet cornbread cake.
I hope you enjoy!
Xx
K
| Servings |
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- 8 cardamom pods
- 3 oranges zested
- 1 cup ground almonds or pre-made almond flour
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup polenta grains
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 stick butter
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- Butter to grease cake tin
- 3 oranges juiced
- 5 tbsp. rose water
- 2 tbsp. Honey
- ½ cup ground pistachio dust
- 1 orange zested
Ingredients
For cake
For syrup
For Topping:
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- Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a mixing bowl, add polenta, baking powder and ground almonds.
- Beat sugar and butter in a mixer until fluffy. Add eggs and continue to beat until incorporated.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and fold.
- Add in orange zest and vanilla. Fold in until incorporated.
- Add mixture to greased cake tin and bake for 40 minutes.
- Remove cake from oven and tin and let cool. With a toothpick prick holes in the cooling cake.
- While the cake is cooling bring all ingredients for syrup to a boil and let simmer for 7-8 minutes until thick.
- Pour syrup over cake and let it soak in.
- Top with pistachio dust (ground pistachio, whizzed in food processor or blender) and orange zest. Enjoy!
28 comments
This look SO YUMMY! I love the flavor combination. I will definitely have to give this a try sometime. I enjoyed reading your blog and look forward to reading it more in the future! Have a great week.
Abigail, I LOVE YOU! Thank you SO much. I can’t wait to see how it turns out! SEND me a pic!
Thank you for posting. Was looking for something to make with my almond flour and this was perfect.
Had no pistachios so substituted pumpkin seeds.
Also added some pomegranate seeds to the syrup.
So good!!
Wow! Love the subs. I’ll def have to try those.
This looks so lush! I can just imagine the aromas in your kitchen.
OMG, the ROSEWATER, smelled amazzzzing!
This looks absolutely yummy! I’m definitely going to try this! I’ll give it a try when I’m next craving chocolate cake too (which is most likely very soon ;))
Chocolate cake is my evil twin, but I love her so much!
That sounds lovely. I’ve never made polenta cake before and I sure would love to try the recipe. I think it’s a lovely cake to have with your favorite cup of coffee or tea!
Now I’m salivating like no man’s business. These orange cakes look terrific for sure in these great pictures. And now that they contain cardamom, I can imagine how sweet their aroma is , not forgetting their taste!Oh yummy!
When I saw the photo of this it didn’t even look real it is that beautiful! I don’t know if my level of skill would be up to making that but I would sure want to try it!
Girl, this is SO easy. Literally just mix a few things up and you are good to go 🙂
What an interesting flavor/ingredient combination. I love polenta so I’ll give this a try. Thank you.
Yum! Tis cake looks amazing super soft and pefrect for a mid afternoon treat with coffee or tea
Wow! This one’s a winner.This looks so delightful and tasty. I would love to try making this recipe. This is my kind of weekend treat.
polenta cake… that’s the first time I bump into it and I guess it’s delicious. I’ll try to prepare it myself but I’m not sure it will be as beautiful and perfect as yours
imperfection is perfection!
This sounds exciting. Polenta is a very common food here in Hungary (usually as a side dish) but I love the twist you did with the spices. I’ll definitely give it a try.
What do you usually put in the side dishes?
Oh this looks and sounds so freaking good! And BONUS it’s Gluten Free so I can actually eat it. I’m saving this recipe so I can make this ASAP!????
This all sounds amazing! I love the idea of the honey and rosewater syrup. I bet it mixes with the orange flavor so nicely. Yummy!
It goes reallllly well together. Nice aromas.
This looks so good. Too bad we don’t have polenta here in my city. Or maybe if we do, that would be imported and expensive. huhu I wanna try doing this recipe!
I love desserts specially cakes . And this looks yummy . I love the fact that it has orange flavor . its my favorite fruit . Will try this recipe for sure . Thanks!
This sound really good – and original, too. Where does it come from? Sounds like Arabic-Latin American fusion.
It is an Italian Indian combo!
ORANGE POLENTA CAKE WITH HONEY & ROSEWATER SYRUP looks so good! I bet it was yummy too! I’ll bake it this weekend.
I still think nothing beats a good chocolate cake but this looks delicious too. I bet it smells Devine!