Saturday, 18 August 2012

Almond, Polenta and Lemon Cake


This cake has such a texture infused flavour. The slight lemon tang gives it a moreish quality and, although the cake will naturally sink in the middle (the inevitable when it comes to flour-less treats) there is still something picture-perfect about this cake - I think its the dense crumb! Adapted from Nigella's Lemon Polenta Cake, my version has less lemon and more sweetness. Reason being is that I think it's important to notice the almond and polenta, which is difficult with the overpowering tang an added lemon brings with it.


The Recipe: 
Zest of 1 lemon
200g ground almonds
100g cornmeal/polenta
200g caster sugar
3 eggs
200g unsalted softened butter
1 and a half tsp baking powder
The Syrup
1 cup sugar
2 cups water

The Method:
  • Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line an 8 inch tin.
  • Cream the butter and sugar together in a freestanding mixer until light and fluffy - 3-5 minutes. 
  • In a separate bowl mix in the all of the dry ingredients.
  • Alternately add the eggs with the dry mixture, into the creamed butter. Preferably thirds at a time. 
  • Mix until well incorporated. The mixture should resemble a normal cake butter but a bit thicker. 
  • Plop into the tin and spread around evenly.
  • Bake for 45 minutes. Do not threat, the cake will naturally sink in the middle!
  • Boil the sugar and water together and let cool.
  • When the cake is out of the oven, pour the syrup (as much as desired) into the cake while its still hot and then leave the cake to cool completely before taking it out of the tin.
  • Serve with tea!

4 comments:

  1. The crumb of this cake looks gorgeous indeed and the dip in the cake is quite elegant. I've never baked with polenta before. I think I need to be a bit more adventurous with my ingredients!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Have you not?! You can buy it really cheap in off licenses! You should deffo give it a go :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. This looks yummy. The sinking in the middle doesn't look bad either. I was watching Australian Masterchef and one of the contestants - Julia - cooked something very similar (well it was a lemon syrup cake) and it was supposed to drop in the middle. It just created this second dimension with regards to the texture. I wish I could find the recipe. Anywho, I think I'll try this too :) Yum!Rachel...Xx
    Live.Food.Love

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love this cake! Feeling fruity and inspired, and have just found bargain polenta on Amazon.co.uk: 6 bags of 500g for £3.51. I'm in! Hannah

    ReplyDelete

Template by Pink + Lola