This recipe is from Niamh Shield‘s lovely book Comfort & Spice… She recommends using Blood Oranges; which are delicious, but difficult to get hold of sometimes. Normal oranges work a treat, especially if they’re sweet. The book is fab – not least for this recipe
Pre-heat the oven to 180˚c
Make the drizzle – by carefully peeling an Orange and dicing it into 1cm cubes (discarding the pithy bits). Put the chopped Orange and its juice in a bowl, and add 2 tbsp Honey. Let the mixture steep in the bowl…
Now for the Polenta Cakes… Sift the 150g Plain Flour, 1 tbsp Baking Powder and a pinch of Salt into a large bowl with the 225g Polenta, 100g Ground Almonds and 75g Golden Caster Sugar (half Brown, half Caster seems to work too)
Separate the 3 Free Range Eggs
Whisk the Egg Whites until they’re at soft peak stage (like for Meringue)
Whisk the Egg Yolks with the zest of 1 Orange, the juice of 4 Oranges and the 225g Olive Oil
Stir the Egg Yolk mixture through the Flour mixture – do this gently to keep the air you have sifted and whisked in…
Now gently fold the Egg Whites into the mixture
Spoon into a lightly oiled and floured muffin tray – or into mini cupcake cases
Bake for 30 minutes or so, until they’re cooked and springy when you touch them (I have overbaked them before, and although more dense; they’re still delicious)
Leave to cool for 15 minutes before removing and cooling fully on a rack
Serve with lots of the drizzle-ey syrup poured over the cakes