Tipsy Cornmeal Cake

Soft, delicate, subtle. Not this cake. If you want a cake with “texture” and “flavor” that bites you back, resists your bite, then here is a recipe for you. And, it’s one to absorb any leftover berries you might find before fall freezes us all.

The cake uses equal amounts of cornmeal and all-purpose flour. [Equal by weight, not by measure, which is why you need a kitchen scale!]

Cornmeal always adds notes of gusto to a dish, but here it dramatically affects the texture. There is a graininess here that is unusual, but not in bad way at all. This cake will remind you of a sponge cake with its resilient resistance to your bite. Not a soft cake at all.

Author Gaitri Pagrach-Chandra wrote Warm Bread and Honey Cake in 2009, featuring cake and baked goods ideas from around the world. The book is filled with little known — you could almost say obscure — treats that deserve more than a mere fifteen minutes of time in the spotlight. This cake is one of them, and Gaiatri offers a charming background story.

The tipsy part of this cake comes from Triple Sec. Having discovered the island of Curacao long ago, the Spanish explorers planted Valencia oranges, expecting sweet rewards. The climate and the soil reigned over the conquistadors. The oranges turned out to be small, bitter and considered useless. The orange trees were left to run, well grow, wild.

It cook centuries, but some clever person discovered that the oil in these orange skins was ideal for making liqueurs. Today, we enjoy the liqueur Curacao and its orange-colored cousin Triple Sec first and foremost in margaritas. But in this cake, the orange liqueur serves as a dominating flavor component.

Suzen began serving this cake to her corporate team building clients at Cooking by the Book. She put it on the menu, unsure if it would appeal. From the first week, it has become a smashing favorite. People comment about the “delicious, unusual” dessert that just seems so totally distinctive.

Distinctive it is. Try it and I’m sure you’ll enjoy ever last ounce of cornmeal. Serve unadorned if you like. But whipped cream, ice cream, or crème fraiche are pretty good ideas to make something wonderful even more so.

Yield: serves 8

Ingredients:

4 ½ ounces, generous ⅔ cup fine cornmeal
4 ½ ounces, scant 1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
8 ounces, generous 1 cup superfine sugar
3 eggs
Zest of 1 orange, preferably organic
6 ounces, 1 ½ sticks butter, melted
7-8 tablespoons Triple Sec
1 cup mixed berries, optional

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C. Grease an 8-inch spring form pan and dust with flour.

Mix the cornmeal, flour, salt and baking powder together and set aside.

Use an electric mixer to whisk the eggs and sugar with the orange zest until the mixture falls off the whisk in a thick ribbon as opposed to a thin stream. Remove any zest clinging to the whisk and return it to the eggs.

Gently fold in the cornmeal mixture with a balloon whisk. Add the butter and 5 tablespoons Triple Sec and mix gently to incorporate.

If using berries, gently fold them into the berries.

Transfer the batter to the pan and bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Remove from the oven, then brush the top with half of the remaining Triple Sec. Let it stand for about 5 minutes, then loosen the sides and release the clip. Invert the cake onto a wire rack and brush the bottom with the remaining Triple Sec. Leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

Tipsy Cornmeal Cake