Polenta Almond Cake Food

POLENTA ALMOND CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spread sliced almonds in a single layer on a small baking sheet. Bake until fragrant and golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a shallow bowl; set aside to cool. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, finely grind whole almonds; set aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the ground almonds, polenta, flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt; set aside. Pour melted butter into an 8-by-2-inch round cake pan, swirling to coat bottom and brushing up sides of the pan. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar and toasted sliced almonds; set aside.
• Combine butter and remaining 1 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating to combine after each addition. Beat in orange juice and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients, slowly beating just until combined.
• Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing top with an offset spatula. Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Transfer baking pan to wire rack to cool for 15 minutes. Remove cake from pan, and cool completely.

LEMON POLENTA CAKE

Steps:

• This cake is a sort of Anglo-Italian amalgam. The flat, plain disc is reminiscent of the confections that sit geometrically arranged in patisserie windows in Italy; the sharp, syrupy sogginess borrows from the classic English teatime favorite, the lemon drizzle cake. It is a good marriage: I love Italian cooking in all respects save one - I find their cakes both too dry and too sweet. Here, though, the flavorsome grittiness of the polenta and tender rubble of ground almond meal provide so much better a foil for the wholly desirable dampness than does the usual flour.
• But there is more to it than that. By some alchemical process, the lemon highlights the eggy butteriness of the cake, making it rich and sharp at the same time. If you were to try to imagine what lemon curd would taste like in cake form, this would be it.
• Although I am greedily happy to slice and cram messily straight into my mouth, letting damp clumps fall where they will, this cake is best eaten - in company at least - with spoon and fork. Either way, consider it a contender for teatime comfort and supper-party celebration alike.
• For the cake: Line the base of your cake pan with parchment paper and grease its sides lightly with butter. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Beat the butter and sugar till pale and whipped, either by hand in a bowl with a wooden spoon, or using a freestanding mixer.
• Mix together the almond meal, polenta and baking powder, and beat some of this into the butter-sugar mixture, followed by 1 egg, then alternate dry ingredients and eggs, beating all the while.
• Finally, beat in the lemon zest and pour, spoon or scrape the mixture into your prepared pan and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes. It may seem wibbly but, if the cake is cooked, a cake tester should come out cleanish and, most significantly, the edges of the cake will have begun to shrink away from the sides of the pan. Remove from the oven to a wire cooling rack, but leave in its pan.
• For the syrup: Make the syrup by boiling together the lemon juice and confectioners' sugar in a smallish saucepan. Once the confectioners' sugar has dissolved into the juice, you're done. Prick the top of the cake all over with a cake tester (a skewer would be too destructive), pour the warm syrup over the cake, and leave to cool before taking it out of its pan.
• Make Ahead Note: The cake can be baked up to 3 days ahead and stored in airtight container in a cool place. Will keep for total of 5 to 6 days.
• Freeze Note: The cake can be frozen on its lining paper as soon as cooled, wrapped in double layer of plastic wrap and a layer of foil, for up to 1 month. Thaw for 3 to 4 hours at room temperature.

POLENTA POUNDCAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Butter and lightly flour the insides of a 10-inch round cake pan.
• Sift together the flour, polenta, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
• In a mixer, on medium speed, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add 1 cup of the sugar and beat until pale and fluffy Add almond paste and beat again. Blend in vanilla and almond extracts, then beat in the egg yolks, 1 at a time, being sure that each is mixed in before the next is added. Alternately, beat in small amounts of the sifted dry ingredients and the cream to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.
• In a clean mixer, beat egg whites until opaque, then add remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until whites form soft peaks. Fold into batter gently but thoroughly. Pour the batter into the cake pan. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for about 60 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. (Do not test or move the cakes before they have baked for at least 45 minutes since they are delicate and may fall.)
• Allow the cake to cool and when cooled remove from the pan and dust the top with powdered sugar. Cut into eighths or tenths.
• Serve this cake with summer fruits -peaches, nectarines, apricots, berries¿-tossed with a little sugar, freshly squeezed lemon juice and a pinch of gray salt.

ALMOND-POLENTA POUND CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the lower third. Butter an 8 × 9 4-inch loaf pan; dust with flour, and tap out excess. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cut the almond paste into 2/3 cup sugar with 2 forks until it resembles coarse meal. Add the butter; using the paddle attachment, beat until soft and light, about 4 minutes.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the extracts, cream, and egg yolks. With the mixer on medium, gradually add the cream mixture to the butter mixture. In a small bowl, stir together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. Sift half the flour mixture over the butter mixture, and fold to combine. Fold in the remaining flour mixture.
• In another mixing bowl, beat the egg whites and remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar on medium speed to stiff peaks, 2 to 3 minutes. Fold into the batter.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. If the top begins to brown too much, cover loosely with foil. Let cool before serving.

STRAWBERRY, ALMOND & POLENTA SKILLET CAKE

Steps:

• Butter a 20cm frying pan or cake tin with a little butter. Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.
• Beat together the softened butter, sugar, vanilla and almond extract for 5 mins, or until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition to combine, then fold through the flour, polenta and ground almonds. Fold through half the strawberries.
• Spoon the mixture into the skillet or cake tin and smooth over. Dot with the remaining strawberries and bake for 40-45 mins or until golden brown and firm. Serve warm with ice cream or clotted cream.

ALMOND POLENTA POUND CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with rack in lower third. Butter an 8-by-4-inch loaf pan; dust with flour, tapping out excess. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cut almond paste into 2/3 cup sugar with two forks until it resembles coarse meal. Add the butter; using the paddle attachment, beat until soft and light, about 4 minutes.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together extracts, cream, and egg yolks. With mixer on medium, gradually add cream mixture to butter mixture. In a small bowl, stir together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. Sift half the flour mixture over butter mixture, and fold to combine. Fold in remaining flour mixture.
• In another mixing bowl, beat the egg whites and remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar on medium speed until stiff peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes. Fold into batter.
• Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. If top begins to brown too much, cover loosely with foil. Let cool before serving.

APRICOT, ALMOND & POLENTA CAKE

Steps:

• Butter a 20-23cm round cake tin. If it has a loose bottom, you will need to wrap the outside with foil to prevent any of the caramel from leaking. Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. For the apricots, put the granulated sugar and 75ml water into a saucepan. Heat slowly until the sugar has dissolved. When the sugar has melted, bring to the boil and watch the syrup until it starts to turn to a deep amber colour. Remove from the heat and add the butter. Stir until it has melted. Pour into the tin, then lay the apricots in it, cut-side down.
• For the cake, beat together the butter and sugar until light with an electric whisk. Add the egg a little at a time, then the zest and almond extract. Mix all the dry ingredients together, then fold them gradually into the egg mixture, alternating with the milk. Spoon this over the apricots and bake for 50 mins. To test it's baked, push a skewer into the centre. It should come out clean.
• Leave the cake to cool for 15 mins, then run a knife in-between the cake and the inside of the tin and invert it onto a plate. If any of the apricot halves get left behind in the tin carefully scoop them up - trying to keep their shape intact and not squash them too much - and put them back, cut-side up, on the cake. Leave the cake to cool, or serve warm if you want.
• Heat the apricot jam with 2 tbsp of water. Once the jam has dissolved, push it through a sieve to remove the bits of apricot. Leave it to cool a little - otherwise it overcooks the apricots, which should be perfectly cooked and not collapsing - then paint the jam thickly on the top of the cake. Leave this to set a little, then serve with crème fraîche or cream, if you like.

ALMOND AND LEMON POLENTA CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325°F.
• In a large bowl and using an electric hand whisk or electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, then add the ground almonds and combine.
• Beat in the eggs one at a time.
• Next, add the lemon juice and zest, polenta, baking powder and a pinch of salt.
• Spoon the mixture into a 9in round cake tin (not loose bottomed, 2in deep, lightly buttered and lined with baking parchment) and level out with the back of a spoon.
• Bake on the centre shelf of the oven for 1 hour 10 mins or until the cake is firm to the touch and a metal skewer comes out clean.If the cake appears to be browning too much towards the end of the cooking time, cover the top loosely with aluminium foil.
• When the cake is nearly ready, make a syrup by gently heating the lemon juice, zest and the sugar until the sugar has dissolved, then bubble the mixture for a couple of minutes until slightly syrupy.
• When the cake is cooked, take it out of the oven and drizzle two-thirds of the warm syrup over the top of the cake while it is still in the tin.
• Leave the cake to cool before turning out and slicing.
• Serve drizzled with a little of the extra syrup.