#1,859: Olive Oil Lemon Cornmeal Cake

Since returning home from New Years, I'm (apparently) on a grocery store strike and trying to see just how long I wait out the inevitable trip.  I'm getting creative (and desperate) in trying to get in servings of fruits and veggies to my kids.  I *MAY* have raided the school lunch drawer and given them a fruit cup....and I *MAY* have told them that the canned cranberry sauce I found in the WAY back of the pantry also counted as a fruit.  (By the way, I did break down today and finally went...pretty much because there was literally nothing left in the form of fruit that I could get by with).  Today I found a 3/4 empty container of cornmeal and I almost tossed it.  Then I figured it wasn't doing any harm back there and to just leave it.  

Wouldn't you know today of all days (after I got back from said grocery store), a magazine from that same establishment shows up and in it is a recipe for this Olive Oil Cornmeal Cake.  I swear it was an omen!  In addition to the cornmeal I wanted to use up, our eggs are pushing it's expiration date, AND I had a lemon leftover from my brussel sprout recipe too.  There were too many coincidences here so as soon as dinner was over I decided I better whip up this cake!  

So I popped that baby in the oven and went and did something really dumb.....I worked on lesson plans (blech!) and I lost track of time.  By the time the timer went off for this cake, it was over done by at least 5 minutes (hence the very dark top and bottom AND it may be hard to see, but the edges were so dark, I had to cut out the middle of the cake to serve to the kids).

So one of my kids took one bite and said this was awful; one kid said it was good, but she didn't love it; and one kid asked if he could eat the rest for his breakfast!  Can these 3 never get on the same page?!  

Me personally, I liked this, but didn't love it.  Would I eat it, of course (I don't turn down most foods though), but would I make this again, no.  It just was "eh."  I did like the lemon flavor, and do think the orange might have been better (sorry no oranges in this house today), but it was still kind of dry (yes I know I over cooked it), and although I liked the nutty texture of the cornmeal, but this is not a sweet cake, and I still didn't think it was anything extraordinary.

If you try it, let me know what you think! 

1/2 c olive oil, plus more for greasing

2 large eggs
3/4 c sugar
1/2 c orange juice (I used fresh squeezed lemon juice)
1 1/4 c flour
grated zest of 1 orange (I used lemon)
1/2 c cornmeal
2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/3 c white sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease an 8 or 9 inch round pan with olive oil; line the bottom with a round of wax paper and rub it with oil.  In a bowl, whisk 1/2 c oil, eggs, sugar, orange juice, and zest until smooth.

Add flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt; whisk to combine (batter will be thick).  Scrape batter into prepared pan; sprinkle top evenly with sugar. 

Bake 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.  

Cool cake 30 minutes in pan, before transferring to a plate.  Store any leftovers in an air-tight container.