If you're sick of the sight of chocolate Easter Eggs, but still fancy something sweet this weekend, why not try these Chocolate Orange Polenta Cupcakes? Gluten-free and suitable for vegetarians, these cupcakes are ideal with your favourite cuppa for a relaxing afternoon treat.
Although I'm don't personally follow a gluten-free diet, I have several friends and relatives who are gluten-intolerant, so I've been experimenting with various gluten-free baking recipes to make sure that they don't miss out when I bring over homemade cakes and treats.
Just before Christmas, I made a batch of these Chocolate Orange Polenta Cupcakes from Lorraine Pascale's Bake cookbook and they were very popular with everyone who tried them. I decided to tweak the recipe slightly to see if less sugar and butter could work and they came out great! In fact, no-one really noticed and all of the cupcakes were quickly devoured over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend. Win-win!
So this is the adapted recipe from Lorraine Pascale - I've also added a chunk of Orange-flavoured Chocolate to finish off each cupcake and swapped the regular brown sugar for Coconut Sugar, but you can use whichever you have available.
Ingredients: (makes 6 cupcakes)
- 80g organic Butter (cubed & at room temperature)
- 60g Coconut Sugar
- 2 free-range, organic Eggs
- 100g Ground Almonds
- 1 tbsp Cacao Powder
- 50g fine Polenta
- 1/2 tsp Baking Powder (gluten-free)
- Zest and Juice of 1 small Orange
- 6 chunks of Orange-flavoured Chocolate (I used a bar from Divine)
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180C / Gas Mark 4 and line a muffin tin with six cupcake cases.
- In a large bowl add the Butter and Sugar, and beat with a wooden spoon or whisk until it's has a light and creamy texture.
- Next, add the Eggs, one at a time, whisking well after each one is added.
- Gently fold in the Ground Almonds, Cacao Powder, Polenta, Baking Powder, Orange Zest and Juice, using as few stirs as possible to keep the mixture nice and light.
- Carefully divide the mixture evenly between the six cupcake cases using a large spoon or mechanical ice-cream scoop. Press a Chocolate chunk into the top of each cupcake to finish.
- Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until lightly golden brown.
- Allow to cool slightly and enjoy warm or cold.
Storage tip: Keep the cupcakes in an airtight container for up to 3 days, though they are best eaten within 24 hours.
Have you tried using Polenta in baking?
These look fantastic! I like that you don't need that many ingredients to make them.
ReplyDeleteThey are delicious and very easy to make :) x
Delete