Thursday, April 26, 2007

Lime polenta cake

Lime polenta cake

Barbara is one of my favorite foodies. She’s a wonderful cook and has some great victories in life – surviving cancer is one of them. Not to mention she’s the mind behind “Hay, Hay, it’s Donna Day” – and if you think this is not enough (are you crazy??), she’s promoting “A Taste of Yellow”, a foodblog event linked to (and approved by) the Lance Armstrong Foundation as a part of LiveStrong Day.

supportinglaf_2c

All you have to do to take part is cook a dish with some type of yellow food. Pretty easy, right?

I wouldn’t miss this event for the world – I lost my mom to cancer (and my grandmother and one of my aunts) and I know how alert one must be about this terrible disease.

Please join me, Barbara and other foodies – let’s spread the word!

Lime polenta cake
adapted from here

250g butter
200g (1 cup) caster sugar
zest of 4 limes
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
210g (1 ¼ cups) ground almonds
182g (1 cup) polenta
35g (¼ cup) self-raising flour
pinch of salt

Citrus syrup:
300g (1 ½ cups) caster sugar
80ml (1/3 cup) lemon, lime, orange or mandarin juice – I used orange
80ml (1/3 cup) water
3 strips of any citrus fruit rind

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/355ºF . Brush a deep, 22cm round cake tin with melted butter or oil and line the base and sides with baking paper – I used a 25cm not so deep pan and lined only the bottom with paper.
Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with electric beaters until light and creamy. Add the zest and vanilla; beat until thoroughly combined.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. The mixture will look quite curdled at this stage. Add the juice, almonds, polenta, flour and salt. Stir until the mixture is smooth. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the surface. Bake for 40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the centre.
Set the cake aside for at least 10 minutes before turning out of the tin. Drizzle with citrus syrup or cut into wedges and serve warm with ice cream or thick cream.

Make the syrup: combine all the ingredients in a pan. Stir over low heat, without boiling, until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 12-15 minutes, or until slightly thickened.
Remove the rind and pour the hot syrup over the hot cake*.

This cake keeps for up to 3 days in an airtight container and can be reheated in the microwave.

*I photographed the cake after a while – the hardened syrup formed this delicious sugary icing over the cake.

Lime polenta cake

17 comments:

  1. Patricia thank you for your kind words. I love lime and I love polenta. A perfect combination for a cake. I've posted it to my delcious to bake soon. Thank you for joining A Taste Of Yellow.

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  2. Pat, what a beautiful cake. I can see the crust...just as you like it. I did visit Barbara's lovely blog. Will prepare my contribution.

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  3. How pretty and what a nice choice!

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  4. Pat, lovely cake in a beautiful post! I am preparing something to join Barbara's event, too. :)

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  5. Patricia,
    You're such an amazing baker! I want to try all your recipes, they look so good! The cake looks so moist and delicious. Hopefully I can come up with something for this event, since it's a very important issue.

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  6. pat, this cake looks really good. can i hv a bite? :B

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  7. Patricia-what a great cake! I just have to try it!

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  8. I love the way you incorporate citrus in your baking. I've heard of using lemon and orange but lime is new (and refreshingly delicious) to me.

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  9. I love reading your blog Pat. You always come up with something interesting & delicious.
    Wish I could dip my finger in your lime polenta cake *wooops* :)

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  10. you always come up with great baked dish! lime and polenta, what a great combination.

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  11. I love the crust! I can almost taste the crackle of it. Yum! Can I have another slice?

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  12. What a fabulous cake! I tried a polenta cake a while back and really enjoyed it. I love your sugar crust here, seems perfects

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  13. I also had this kind of crust when I made my sour cream cake. I loved it and so is your cake. I've also tried making a cake similar to yours but it was long long time ago...reading your post makes me want to re-live it again...

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  14. I always find something new to learn about, Patricia. I don´t know if I can find polenta where I live. I´ll look for it next time I go shopping.
    By the way, you´ve got mail: mailpatricia.scarpin(a)uol.com.

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  15. Barbara, I'm so, so glad you liked my recipe. It was my pleasure to take part in this beautiful event.

    Tina, I know something delicious will come out of your kitchen. :)

    Quellia, thank you!

    Anh, you got me curious, sweetie! I can't wait to see your post! :)

    Amy, I'm blushing here with your words, sweetie! :)

    Evan, thank you for stopping by - I love your blog!

    Ilva, thank you, dear!

    Susan, I'm a citrus maniac. lol
    Lime is for us here what lemon is for you there.

    Valentina, and I love reading yours, we're even, my dearest!
    My mother in law loved it, I sent her half the cake. Next time I'll save some for you. :)

    Eliza, thank you - I feel the same way about your recipes.

    Sher, help yourself, dear!

    Tanna, I love baking with polenta and cornmeal. Thank you.

    Anne, maybe it's time you baked another one - your baked good always make me dream!

    Karin, I guess cornmeal would work fine, Karin. And thank you for the email, so many delicious recipes!

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  16. Can't believe I missed this one! Looks delicious!

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  17. Patricia, this looks sooo yummy... as you might have heard I have a passion for corn cakes!

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Thank you for your comment!