Orange cake with cornflour and almonds - Dolce all'arancia con la farina di mais e mandorle - Kolač s narančom od kukuruznog brašna i badema

I'm winter-like person, probably because I was born in December, at its very beginning and like every winter does, I've learned to wait silently the arrival of every new change.

Winter days are firm, the ground is closed and frozen, nothing's changing with all speed.

Winter days create long black shadows and during foggy days it seams to be lost in a big white and humid cloud. Cold sticky air dampen the hair, rest down on waterproof jackets and tiny drops look so gleaming on dark winter clothes. Coloured clothing are not usual during cold winter months. People need to appear more wisdom and calm, so they wear dark clothing, don't they?!

Only the bright and sunny winter days make the difference. They happen from time to time to drive away the blues. All that light during those precious clear days, it's beautiful, soft and sparkling. The best light for taking pictures...and here we are...since I've started to write this blog the photography captures more and more of my time. It's the continuous exploring and experimenting, learning and discovering. Means waiting for the best light and rather cloudy afternoons. You need a lot of patience during long waiting for the right light, for the perferct moment to arrive, for the tasty and well prepared dish you have to cook and arrange on your favourite plate, or wooden board...a lot of patience and commitment indeed.

It would be dreamy to have a lot of quiet winter afternoons in front of empty, white wall and black paper panels that interrupt strong light rays. Instead I'm waiting for weekends to come, hopefully with a photogenic cake ready to be photographed. Or I frantically prepare something the evening before or on Saturday morning to be ready in the afternoon. Meanwhile I'm thinking how to arrange the set, what coloures will be most appropriate to combine, should I use some props, or the emptiness in the set will be the best choice. There is a lot of thinking and running, making and shooting, editing pictures and writing before the post become mature and ready to fly!

All this words to tell you that at the end of winter I have baked this divine cake, completely gluten-free and so perfumed. Orange flavoure is for me the best one, so fresh and sweet, not intrusive at all. I adore oranges, it's very wintry fruit, maybe another reason why I adore winter.

But suddenly spring surprise us and the two seasons bicker a bit before the long cold months leave the space to the new season.

ORANGE CAKE WITH CORNFLOUR AND ALMONDS

70gr of fine cornflour

30g potato starch

100g almond flour *

2 medium eggs

80g fine cane sugar

70 ml of olive oil

40 ml freshly squeezed juice

grated zest of 1 big organic orange

baking powder

pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 180° C.

Oil and flour (with cornflour) one cake pan 18cm big.

Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt and when they become still add sugar and continue beating the eggs. Add egg yolks one by one and continue mixing the batter, slowly add olive oil and continue mixing all together.

Incorporate gradually cornflour, potato starch, almond flour, baking powder and grated orange peel. Finally add orange juice. Gently mix all the ingredients together and pour the batter into cake pan.

Bake for about 45-60 minutes. During last 20 minutes of baking cover the cake with aluminum foil to prevent burning the surface of the cake.

Let the cake cool in the baking pan before removing it from the mold.
Sprinkle the cake with icing sugar with vanilla fragrance (Vanilla&Staubzucker homemade)

* It’s really easy to prepare almond flour by yourself.

Boil the water, put almonds in boiling water for a 45 seconds, drain almonds and peel the skin of almonds by lightly pressing each fruit. The skin will rip and almonds will easily slip out from its skin. Before grating almonds let them dry well. If needed, dry them in the oven for about 45 minutes at 60° C.
Grind almonds to get rafined flour.

DOLCE ALL’ARANCIA CON LA FARINA DI MAIS E MANDORLE

70g di farina di mais fioretto

30g di fecola di patate

100g di farina di mandorle*

2 uova medie

80g di zucchero fine di canna

70 ml di olio d’oliva

40 ml di spremuta d'arancia fresca

scorza grattugiata di 1 arancia grande non trattata

lievito per dolci

pizzico di sale

Preriscaldare il forno a 180°C.

Oliare e infarinare con la farina di mais lo stampo da 18cm di diametro.

Montare gli albumi con un pizzico di sale e quando diventeranno fermi aggiungere lo zucchero continuando a lavorarli. Aggiungere i tuorli uno alla volta e continuare a mixare l'impasto, poi aggiungere a filo l’olio d’oliva e continuare a mixare tutto insieme.

Incorporare poco alla volta la farina di mais fioretto, la fecola di patate, la farina di mandorle, il lievito per dolci e la scorza d’arancia grattugiata. Infine aggiungere anche la spremuta d’arancia. Mescolare bene tutti gli ingredienti con delicate)za per non smontare le uova e versare l’impasto nello stampo.

Infornare per circa 45-60 minuti. Durante gli ultimi 20 minuti di cottura coprire il dolce con un foglio di alluminio per non far bruciare la superficie del dolce.

Lasciare raffreddare il dolce prima di estrarlo dallo stampo.
Spolverare il dolce con lo zucchero a velo aromatizzato alla vaniglia (Vanilla&Staubzucker fatto in casa

*Preparate la farina di mandorle in casa è veramente facile.

Fate bollire l’acqua, immergete le mandorle per 45 secondi nell’acqua bollente, scolate le mandorle e fate uscire le mandorle dalla loro pelle facendo una leggera pressione sul frutto. La pelle si lacererà e la mandorla scivolerà fuori. Prima di tritare le mandorle fatele asciugare bene. Se serve, passatele nel forno per circa circa 45 minuti a 60°C.
Trattare per ottenere la farina fine.

KOLAČ S NARANČOM OD KUKURUZNOG BRAŠNA I BADEMA

70gr finog kukuruznog brašna (vrlo sitno mljevenog)

30gr krumpirovog škroba

100gr brašna od badema*

2 srednje velikih jaja

80g finog šećera od trske

70 ml maslinovog ulja

40 ml svježe iscijeđenog soka od naranče

ribane korice od 1 velike netretirane naranče

prašak za pecivo

prstohvat soli

Zagrijte pećnicu na 180° C.

Kalup za tortu promjera 18 cm namazati uljem i posipati kukuruznim brašnom.

Tući bjelanjke s prstohvatom soli i kada dobijete čvrsti snijeg dodati u bjelanjke šećer i nastavit miksati. Dodavati jedan po jedan žumanjak u snijeg od bjelanjaka uz stalno miksanje, zatim polagano ulijevati u smjesu maslinovo ulje i neprestano stalno miksati.

Postepeno lagano miješajući dodati u smjesu kukuruzo brašno, krumpirov škrob, brašno od badema, prašak za pecivo i naribanu koricu naranče. Na kraju polagano dodati u smjesu i sok od naranče. Delikatno promiješajte sve sastojke i uliti smjesu u kalup za tortu.

Peći oko 45-60 minuta. Posljednjih 20 minuta pokriti kolač aluminijskom folijom da površina torte ne izgori.

Ostaviti da se kolač ohladi u kalupu.
Posuti kolač šećerom u prahu aromatiziranim vanilijom (domaći Vanila&Staubzucker)

* Pripremiti brašna od badema je stvarno lako.

Zakuhati vodu, ubaciti bademe u vrelu vodu i ostaviti ih u vreloj vodi 45 sekundi, ocijediti bademe i oguliti im kožicu laganim pritiskom na jezgru. Kožica će puknuti i badema će iz nje ispasti van. Prije nego što ih sameljete, bademe dobro osušite. Ako treba, sušite ih u pećnici oko 45 minuta na 60° C.
Sameljite u vrlo sitno brašno.