Make orange bottom: Line the bottom of 9 inch round pan with parchment paper. Pour 3 tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle 1/4 cup of sugar on the bottom of the pan as evenly as possible. Lay out your thin orange slices at the bottom of the pan in a circular configuration, overlapping oranges as your go around and fill the centre. Remember, these oranges should be as thinly slices as you can get them. You should try to press them down as much as you can to the bottom of your pan so that cake batter does not seep between the cracks and cause the concealment of the oranges at the bottom when the cake is flipped over.
Get all your dry ingredients thyme ready except your polenta, place in a large bowl, mix well and set aside. Mix in your thyme (add 2 teaspoons if you want a hint of thyme and 3 if you want thyme flavour to be a bit more present in the cake) into the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt mixture.
Take you polenta and place in a separate bowl, soak your polenta with your measured out orange juice, lemon juice and milk and set aside.
In large mixing bowl add your sugar and olive oil and add your eggs one at a time and mix well until both are combined. Add your vanilla extract, orange zest, and orange blossom water and mix.
Add your polenta, milk, orange juice and lemon juice mix and add into sugar, oil and egg mixture.
Add your dry ingredients to wetter ingredients and mix well until well combined.
pour into your prepared parchment lines pan that has your orange layer and bake at 350 for 1 hour or until tooth pick comes out clean when inserted into the middle of pan.
When your cake is ready, rest on counter top for about 15 minutes until it has cooled but is still warm, them run knife on the outer edge of your pan to loosen it.
Carefully flip pan over and gently nudge cake out of pan.
Tip: After flipping your cake, you may find that there is a bit of cake crumb around the edges. Fear not, this aesthetic flaw can easily be fixed in the next step when you brush apricot jam over the top of your cake.
Mix your sugar, orange juice, lemon juice and apricot jam in a small bowl. In the microwave in 10 second increments until very hot (about 3-4 times) and water has evaporated a bit. Strain your apricot jam mixture and brush across the surface of your oranges to remove any cake crumbs and your leave a nice glossy finish.
This is a dense, herby, citrus cake with hints of polenta that stays fresh for a long while! It is absolutely delicious if you like oranges.
I recommend refrigeration this cake after the first day at room temp because orange on top can start to get soggy.
