Daz Switalla Flavour Secrets No.1 The Strand Chef www.no1thestrand.co.nz

The choices of those on a gluten-free diet with a sweet tooth are on the increase as with many dairy-free and vegan choices available in many cafes and restaurants.

Working as a chef these days requires a good knowledge of using alternatives to gluten in baking. Tthis week I thought I'd share my favourite gluten-free cake recipe which uses ground almonds, polenta and whole oranges. It's an old Middle Eastern recipe I first made 20 years ago, before anyone had even heard of gluten-free. Inspired by Middle Eastern cookbook author Arto Der Haroutunian, this recipe I've changed the semolina to polenta, and have tweaked and personalised it during the years – even adding chocolate to make a jaffa version. The whole cake is soaked in syrup after baking, like many Turkish desserts, and it will keep for five or six days stored in an airtight container in the fridge.

Turkish Orange Syrup Cake
Makes a 22cm tin

Ingredients

1 tsp baking powder
220g ground almonds
200g fine polenta
180g sugar
3x large oranges
6 fresh eggs
1/4 cup of oil

Syrup

1 cup sugar
1.5 cups water
1/4 cup orange blossom water

Method

Bring oranges to a simmer and keep simmering for an hour till very soft. Pick out the part where the stem attaches to the orange, and blitz in blender with oil. While still warm, add fine polenta. Whisk eggs and sugar together till pale and thick, fold in ground almonds mixed with baking powder, then fold in the orange pulp and polenta and bake in a 22cm lined tin for 45-60 minutes at 180 degrees. Boil sugar and water for syrup, allow to cool, then add orange blossom water. When cake is ready and while still warm from the oven, pour syrup over the cake and let it soak in. Note you don't often need all the syrup so keep some for service. To make a jaffa version, decrease polenta to 100 grams and add 200 grams melted chocolate when folding in orange mix. Also a good slosh of chocolate liquor in syrup will also help. Whichever way you have this cake, it's very Moorish and may not last the week it's supposed to.