Peach & orange blossom polenta upside-down cake
Polenta gives this wonderful citrus-laden cake an interesting texture.
Ingredients:
- 4 peaches, cut into thin wedges (use Golden Queens if you can)
- 185g butter, softened
- 150g (⅔ cup) golden caster sugar
- 5 eggs
- Zest of 2 oranges
- ¾ cup thick Greek-style yoghurt
- 2 tablespoons orange blossom water
- 100g almonds, ground (I do this in my coffee grinder, first chopping them roughly)
- 130g fine polenta
- 40g flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- 2 tablespoons golden caster sugar
- Thick Greek-style yoghurt or creme fraiche to serve
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 160°C and line a square or rectangle cake tin with baking paper (I used a tin that measures 21cm x 19cm, but slightly bigger is also fine). Arrange the peach slices on the bottom of the tin in three rows, pushing them snugly together.
2. Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy then add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Add the orange zest, yoghurt and 1 tablespoon of the orange blossom water and pulse to combine. Add the ground almonds, polenta, flour and baking powder and again pulse until just combined.
4. Pour the batter over the peach slices and bake for an hour or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
5. While the cake is cooking, put the orange juice in a saucepan with the sugar, bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for about 12 minutes or until it begins to go syrupy, then stir in the remaining tablespoon of orange blossom water.
6. Once the cake is cooked, remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes before removing from the tin and transferring to a plate.
7. Using a wooden skewer, make holes all over the cake then pour over the syrup and let it absorb into the cake. Serve with thick Greek-style yoghurt or creme fraiche.
Written by Emma Boyd. Republished with permission of Stuff.co.nz. Image credit: Emma Boyd/Stuff.co.nz.