Suitable for vegetarians
Very Italian and very zesty - this is a dessert made for lazy summer days
Serves 8
Preparation time 30 minutes
Cooking time 1 hour, 5 minutes
Ingredients
- 275ml olive oil
- 375g caster sugar
- 4 large eggs
- Finely grated zest and juice of 1 small orange
- 190g ground almonds
- 190g polenta
- 1.5tsp baking powder
- 6 tbsp fresh orange juice
- 2 small oranges, thinly sliced
- Fresh mint, to decorate
Method
1 Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. Line the base of a 22cm springform cake tin with baking parchment and grease the sides.
2 Whisk the oil, 275g sugar, eggs, orange zest and juice together. Fold in the almonds, polenta and baking powder. Spoon into the cake tin and bake for 1 hour, 5 minutes, until a knife in the centre comes out clean.
3 Meanwhile, put the remaining sugar in a pan with the orange juice and 100ml water and heat until the sugar dissolves. Simmer for 3 minutes to form a syrup, then add the orange slices and cook over a low heat for about 5 minutes, until the oranges have softened.
4 Once the cake is cooked, run a knife around it to loosen it from the tin; make small holes all over it with a skewer, arrange the orange slices on top and drizzle over the syrup while still warm. Leave to cool, remove from the tin and decorate with mint.