Lavender Polenta Coffee Cake Food

LEMON POLENTA CAKE WITH LAVENDER SYRUP AND RASPBERRIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180 C or 360 F or Gas mark 4.
• Sift the polenta, flour, baking powder & salt into a bowl.
• Tip the yoghurt, oil, lemon zest & juice into a jug and stir to combine.
• Beat the eggs and egg whites with half the sugar until thick and creamy.
• Fold in the dry ingredients.
• Pour the batter into a greased & lined 2 pint loaf tin.
• Bake for 40-45 minutes or until set & a skewer comes out clean.
• Put the remaining sugar into a pan with 7 fl oz of water and the lavender heads.
• Bring to the boil and then simmer for 10 minutes. Cool completely & then strain into a clean jug.
• Whilst the cake is still warm, prick the top and drizzle over half the syrup, saving the rest to serve with the cake later.
• TO SERVE:.
• Serve with extra syrup, raspberries, creme fraiche & a sprig of lavender.
• The normal portions I use are 2 thin slices on each plate, overlapped for effect and then a drizzle of syrup around the slices with raspberries scattered over the top and a rounded tablespoon of creme fraiche to one side.

LEMON POLENTA CAKE

Steps:

• Butter a 23cm cake tin and heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Put the lemons in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, drain, pour over more cold water, then simmer for 1 hr until the lemons are really soft, topping up with more water if you need to. Drain the lemons well. When cool, halve them, remove the pips and blitz in a food processor to a purée.
• Add all the other cake ingredients and carry on blitzing until you have a loose batter. Scrape the batter into the cake tin and bake for 40-50 mins until golden and starting to shrink away from the sides.
• While the cake bakes, make the drizzle by mixing the sugar with the lemon juice. When the cake is ready, remove from the oven and leave to cool a little. While still warm, pour over the drizzle and leave to cool completely. Serve with mascarpone.