Organico, the Mediterranean organic food specialists, welcomes the Coeliac UK’s** Free for Tea week in May (11th-17th) and what better way to celebrate gluten-free tea-time than with an organic polenta cake!
Not being able to eat gluten should not mean that you can’t enjoy cakes whether at home or when you are out and about, and we believe that by using organic ingredients you can have the best of all worlds – great quality and no nasty additives or pesticides. Organico Polenta (100% organic cornmeal and therefore with no gluten) can be used in a variety of ways but we particularly like this traditional Italian recipe for an orangey moist cake.
Organico Polenta is available from good food shops nationwide and online supermarkets like Village Earth Foods. It is produced in Italy using traditional methods and artisan workers. Therefore Organico Polenta brings an authentic taste of Italy to your table.
*As part of it’s week long celebrations Coeliac UK has linked with the National Trust to run a week of offering gluten free treats at selected National Trust properties.
**Coeliac disease is an autoimmune disease caused by intolerence to gluten which is found in wheat, barley and rye. 1 in 100 people in the UK has coeliac disease for which there is no cure and they have to keep to a strict gluten-free diet for life
Orange and Polenta Cake
For an alternative try Chocolate Polenta Cake €“ leave out the juice and zest of the oranges and the fennel seeds and add 35g cocoa powder instead. Delicious!
Ingredients
375g unsalted organic butter
375g organic caster sugar
360g organic ground almonds
5 large organic eggs
1 tsp organic vanilla extract
1 heaped tsp organic fennel seeds (gently pounded in a pestle and mortar)
juice and finely-grated zest of four organic oranges
1 tsp gluten free baking powder
150g Organico polenta
salt
Method:
Line a deep cake tin with greaseproof baking paper and oil with butter. Cut the butter into small dice sized pieces and beat with the sugar in a large bowl. When the mixture is light and fluffy stir in the almonds. Beat the eggs together with the vanilla extract and fennel seeds in a bowl and, stirring all the while, add the eggs to the butter mixture. Add the orange juice, orange zest, baking powder, polenta and a pinch of salt. Mix to a smooth batter.
Pour the mixture into the cake tin, tap to even it out. Put the tin in the centre of an oven pre-heated to 150 degC and cook for about 50 minutes until the cake has cooked through (you can check by putting a skewer through the middle of the cake when it comes out clean it should be cooked). Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin.