Off roading maialino's olive oil cake with polenta and cardamom
Cakes
Italian cuisine
Olive oil cakes are moist with centers that melt in your mouth and, literally, slide down the throat. This recipe is a modified, and in my opinion, enhanced version of the olive oil cake recipe from Maialino Restaurant, NYC. <br /> <br />I love baking with olive oil, especially semolina and polenta cakes. Here in addition to a small quantity of polenta I also added cardamom to infuse a middle eastern flavour reminiscent of halwa cakes, switched out grand marnier for lime juice to add a refreshing kick from my summers in India where limeades were the norm and just to be sure used lime zest too. The result: moist, rich and absolutely citrus. <br /> <br />An important reason for skipping the liqueur was my husband's health - he needs to avoid all alcohol; we are stretching that rule to cooking too. I was doubtful about the mix of orange with lime, but the sweetness of the Cara Cara oranges complemented the acidity of lime juice. Adding a small amount of polenta (1/2 cup) made the cake more spongy and less pudding like in the center. Additional deviations from the original recipe were the use of sea salt instead of kosher salt and 2% milk instead of whole milk. My cake bubbled up in the center while baking, I would be keen to know if that was the case with others! The crust wasn't crackling but a good golden brown in color. We've been having it post dinner with dollops of vanilla ice cream.
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