From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...While everyone is familiar with the ingredients used in tonight's feature, the use of cranberries and orange in conjunction with cornmeal is not something we see every day. I honed in on this recipe, which comes from the LA Times, because I was looking for something unusual for a holiday brunch and I thought the combination of the three ingredients was different enough to be interesting. As I suspected, the cornmeal added great texture to the cake, while the mingling of vanilla and maple syrup wonderfully highlighted the flavors of the tart cranberries and orange zest. This cake is quite moist for one that is made with cornmeal. The moisture comes from the use of ricotta cheese which in this recipe serves as a liquid ingredient. The cake has a rustic appearance and the cranberries add a pop of color that make it perfect for a holiday table. The cake is not hard to make, but I do have one caution to share with you. Make sure the center of the cake is done before you remove it from the oven. The very center of mine fell, ever so slightly, as the cake cooled. The next time I make this, I plan to use a tube pan to assure that this doesn't happen again. I really liked the richness and texture of this cake. I do hope you'll give the recipe a try. Here is how the cake is made.
