Orange Cornmeal Cake

This is a recipe that I really wanted to try. I think my husband would eat cornbread everyday if I made it so I figured why not sweeten it up with this cornmeal cake I found at Martha Stewart! The recipe didn't call for any kind of syrup, glaze or frosting so I decided to add an orange cream cheese frosting to top the cake. Needless to say my husband ate it everyday until it was gone!

Orange Cornmeal Cake

• 1/2 cup olive oil, plus more for pan
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar, plus 1/3 cup for topping
• 1/2 cup dry white wine, (or orange juice)
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
• 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Finely grated zest of 1 orange
• Orange segments, for serving (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush bottom and sides of an 8-inch round cake pan with oil; line bottom with a round of wax or parchment paper, and brush paper with oil.

**To save myself the hassle of cutting a perfectly round piece of parchment paper that perfectly fits my round cake pan (something Martha would do!) I just greased and floured the pan. It worked 'perfectly' and the cake came out of the pan.....'perfectly'! ;)

In a large bowl, whisk together oil, eggs, 1 cup sugar, and wine until smooth. Add flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and orange zest; whisk gently to combine.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until cake begins to pull away from sides of pan and a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes.

Cool in pan 20 minutes. Run a knife around edge of cake; invert cake gently onto a plate, and remove parchment paper. Reinvert cake onto a rack to cool completely. Serve with orange segments and orange cream cheese frosting.

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
4 oz cream cheese, softened
2 T. butter
1 t. orange zest
1 T. orange juice
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar

With an electric mixer combine cream cheese, butter orange zest and orange juice. Add powdered sugar and continue mixing until frosting is light and fluffy.