Gluten free orange cake recipe

This gluten free orange cake is a healthy(ish!) sweet treat that you can tuck into without any guilt. As well as being gluten free, it is very low fat and low in calories, but still tastes indulgent enough to satisfy your cravings. We’ve used a combination of polenta and rice flour to make this gluten free orange cake, which gives it a really lovely texture. We’ve also used a special blend of honey and stevia (from Whole Earth Sweetener Co), which is a lighter way of adding sweetness to the cake. A sweet and zesty citrus glaze gives this gluten free orange cake so much moisture as well as great flavour. Serve it with crème fraiche to complement the sweet and slightly bitter flavour of fresh orange.

Ingredients

For the cake

• 2 whole oranges
• 175g polenta
• 75g rice flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 1⁄2tsp bicarb
• 100g honey and stevia blend (from Whole Earth Sweetener Co)
• 1 egg, plus 2 egg whites

For the glaze

• Juice of 1 orange
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 45g caster sugar

To serve

• reduced-fat crème fraiche

Method

1. Boil the oranges for 30 mins until soft, then, once cooled slightly, blitz in a food processor until smooth.
2. Heat oven to 180C. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, then stir in the orange purée, honey blend and whole egg. Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff peaks form, then fold a third of the egg whites into the mixture to loosen, followed by the remaining egg whites. Pour mixture in an ovenproof tin and bake for 35 mins. Leave to cool slightly in the tin before moving to a cooling rack.  
3. To make the glaze, heat the juices and sugar together until dissolved and slightly reduced. Drizzle glaze evenly over cake. Leave to soak and cool completely. Serve with reduced-fat crème fraiche.