Blood Orange, Cornmeal & Ricotta Cheesecake....OH MY!

It's that time again! Blood oranges are in the markets for a short time only.

I love making upside down cakes, I can't help myself, they are so pretty.

It's time again for those gorgeous, special blood oranges.
In season January- February.

I have made many polenta cakes, and they are usually on the dry side, but this one is moist and decadent, as a ricotta cake should be.

Interesting, I would always use butter and brown sugar for the upside down caramel, but with this recipe, Smitten Kitchen uses only water to mix with the sugar! It worked like a charm, and I saved half a stick of butter! :)

This cake is excellent.......but I baked an upside down clementine cake w/ ricotta that was even better!, but oh those gorgeous blood oranges......I love them so.

Make This Cake (or wait a week for my other upside down cake! sorry to be a tease).
They are both great!

Blood Orange, Cornmeal & Ricotta Cake (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

For the Upside Down Part:

2 blood oranges scrubbed and cut into very thin slices
1/2 cup brown (100g) sugar
2 tablespoons water

Cake:

1/2 cup (100g) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup (170g) whole milk ricotta
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 cup (135g) almond meal/flour
1/3 (45g) cup cornmeal

Preheat your oven to 300ºF. Butter a 9-inch round baking pan (I used a springform) and line the bottom with parchment paper.

Mix the 1/2 cup sugar w/ water and spread the syrup on the bottom of the pan. Arrange the orange slices on the bottom of the pan.

Cream the butter and sugar together with the lemon zest until very light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing for 30 seconds in between each addition. Then beat the mixture for 5 more minutes. Beat in the ricotta and lemon juice (I also used some of the juice from a blood orange).

Stir in the almond meal and cornmeal to make a thick batter.

Spread the batter over the orange slices and bake the cake for 50-60 minutes (the original recipe which is on Smitten Kitchen says 30-40 minutes.....there is no way), until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let the cake cool in the pan for about 20 minutes, then invert it onto a platter. Carefully, remove the paper.

I glazed mine w/ some orange marmalade so it was nice and shiny.

Best served after the cake has been chilled a bit and the top is set.

Enjoy!