Italian Style Cornmeal Cake with Orange

[Olga Drozd]

ITALIAN STYLE CORNMEAL CAKE WITH ORANGE:

This is a delicious light cake.  It makes a perfect finish to a great meal and is excellent to have on hand for snacking.

•  7-inch well greased springform pan or 7-inch (6-cup) souffle or baking dish, lined with greased heavy duty foil
•  Large (minimum 5 quart) oval slow cooker

1 cup fine cornmeal
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 Tbsp. grated orange zest
1/4 cup plain yogurt

ORANGE GLAZE, Optional (see Tip, below)

1/2 cup confectioners (icing) sugar, sifted
1/4 cup orange juice
1 Tbsp. orange-flavored liqueur, optional

In a bowl, mix together cornmeal, walnuts, baking powder and salt.

In another bowl, beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs until incorporated.  Stir in vanilla and orange zest.  Add dry ingredients in two additions alternately with yogurt, mixing until blended.  Spoon batter into prepared pan.  Wrap securely in foil (see TIPS) and cook on HIGH for 4 hours, until cake is puffed and pulling away from side of pan.  Glaze cake, if desired.

Orange Glaze:  In a bowl, combine confectioners; sugar, orange juice and orange flavored liqueur, if using.  With a skewer, poke several holes in the cake.  Spread glaze over hot cake.

Let cake cool in pan for 30 minutes then unmold. Serves 6 to 8.

TIP: Although the orange glaze is a nice finish to this cake, it is also very tasty without a glaze.  Alow cake to cool, unmold and dust lightly with confectioners' sugar.

TIP: To ensure that the cake lifts off the pan intact, spray pan with nonstick vegetable spray.  For added insurance, cover the bottom of the pan with a parchment circle, cut to size.

If using a springform pan, ensure that water doesn't seep into the cake by wrapping the bottom of the pan in one large seamless piece of foil that extends up the sides and over the top.  Cover the top with a single piece of foil that extends down the sides and secure with a string.