Polenta Almond and Organge Cake

Good time for a change… well when you are the one that decide to change then you need to deal with that, as sad as that might be! So this morning I woke up full of good intentions, having made possibly the worst or the best decision in a while, but sometimes you need to think about yourself, even though you know you are going to miss out on something, well time would show! In the meantime to keep my mind occupied, when my friends are not around I decided to start annoying people by blogging again! I think the next couple of months I am going to have those “Valentina busy days”, indeed I only woke up half an hour ago, but I already had a coffee two small breakfasts, booked an hair appointment, which is always a good cheer up, unless you get out of there completely shaved. I am also trying to book few horse riding lessons, I know this might sound a quite funny, but horses always make me feel good for some reason, so sure why not! Well and of course I am back in the kitchen so here is this super tasty and Annie Approved (my celiac friend) polenta and orange cake!

 Tune of the day, feeling a bit emo :-)

Shopping List

100 g sugar for the syrup

100 g sugar for the cake

100 ml of water

150 g  of unsalted butter, room temperature

2 unpeeled small to medium oranges 

100 g of  polenta or coarse yellow cornmeal

250 g of almond powder

25 ml of cointreau liquore

5 g of baking powder 

1 pinch of salt

6 drops of vanilla extract 

2 large eggs, separated 

150 ml of whole milk

Lets get on with this

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. 
2. Mix the water and the sugar and add some orange zest and the cointreau and cook until brown
3.  Cut the orange with the skin and place them at the bottom of a buttered round baking tray, and then poor ¾ of the syrup
4.  In a bowl beat the eggs white and in a separate one mix the sugar and the yolks
5.  In another bowl mix the polenta and the almond powder, the baking powder, then add the eggs and the milk, the remaining syrup and the vanilla extract, until you obtain a smooth mixture
6.  Poor the mixture into the baking tray, spread evenly and cook for 30-40 minutes

Voilà enjoy!