Finally, success!!
Succes in creating a polenta cake that does not sink in the middle or fall apart when turned out.
How, I hear you scream? Well, I've got some tricks up my gluten-free sleeves.
I returned from Italy last October with some Farina di Castagne (Chestnut flour), which has somewhat altered my approach to baking for the Gluten Free's. It is a seasonal product, which I have discussed before, and it's not the cheapest alternative. But it's tasty, hugely aromatic and wonderful for getting a good rise and hold on a cake. Another advantage is that in order to make a splendidly even rise you don't need to use much. I does a great job, like polenta or semolina, in absorbing everything around it. BUT, unlike those other two ingredients, it has a tendancy to make things dry, rather than moist.
So, I bashed my brain and experience together to 'experiment' with this in an attempt to have at least one success with polenta. The ingredients are similar to the Orange & Fig Polenta recipe recently posted, but in order to stop the chestnut flour drying the batter out when it bakes, I have added aditional liquid in the form of egg whites (also to help with a better rise) and freshly squeexed orange juices - and to keep it a bit more italian lets make them blood oranges, for an extra punch.
I have amended the method from how I undertook the cake as I had originally placed the cake in the oven for 10 seconds before realising that I had omitted the butter, which I would never recommend! I salvaged the bake, mind.
Ingredients
200g unsalted butter
300g golden caster sugar
2 eggs
4 extra egg whites
100g ground almonds
120g chestnut flour
120g fine polenta
2 blood oranges (Zest then juice)
For the Topping
3 blood oranges (juice only)
150g golden caster sugar
Method
In an electric mixer, if you have one, cream the butter and the sugar together until combined and smooth. You can place the butter in the microwave for a few moments if it is straight from the fridge, but don't let it melt - just soften it slightly.
In a small separate bowl weigh out the dry ingredients - ground almonds, chestnut flour and polenta and mix together with a spoon to introduce them to one another. Set this bowl to one side.
In another small bowl, break the two eggs and separate the remaining four and lightly whisk. NB. you can use the leftover egg yolks to make ice cream or biscuits.
A little at a time, add the beaten egg to the creamed butter and, on a low setting, mix until combined. If the mixture curdles, don't worry, add a small spoonful of the dry ingredients and then continue adding the egg mixture until combined.
Mix for a few minutes. This is a good time to make yourself a cup of tea, or a gin and tonic.
A spoonful at a time, add the dry ingredients to the ret of the mixture and combine in the mixer until all the dry ingredients are worked in. Add the zest and juice of the oranges to the mixture and mix one final time.
Pour the mixture into a lined 23" cake tin and place in the oven for 45 until a pale golden brown and spongy to touch. If the mixture still wobbles, place back in for a five minutes and check again until cooked.
Turn the oven off and leave the cake to settle for 15 minutes.
At this point, lets make the topping - which is a bit like a drizzle, adding both colour and flavour to the top of the cake.
Combine the juice and sugar in a bowl - I quite like it if there are some bits of the fruit in the mixture too - it gives a nice texture to the topping, but that is up to you.
Skewer the top of the cake many many times (maybe 20 times) evenly across the cake.
Pour the sugar / juice mixture across the top of the cake, lifting the cake to evenly distrubute. You can make more if it doesn't seem enough, or if you want a thicker crust.
Please note that the topping should always be added whilst the cake is still warm, otherwise it won't crust. If you do it cold it will simply just soak into the cake, which is still delicious, I suppose!
Well, I hope it goes well.
This one is good with yogurt, or ice cream, or just lift and tip the whole thing straight into your mouth!
Katie xx
Showing posts with label polenta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label polenta. Show all posts
Monday, 10 February 2014
Sunday, 11 August 2013
Plum, Passion and Pumpkin Polenta Pake
A Pake is very much like a Cake, but where all the main ingredients start with the letter 'P'. I couldn't bring myself to ruin a gloriously alliterate moment with the 'C' word, especially when what I really wanted to write was 'Pie' but, alas, this is no pie either.
Fuelled by last weeks discovery of just how great polenta is to bake with, I've devised this cake recipe from scratch. I say cake, it's more like a flan but with moist delicate tart like fruit on the bottom, or the top, or the bottom, or the top. You see, it's a classic 'upside down' cake. You bake it with the fruit on the base and then turn it out to serve.
The use of a variety of ingredients, that I am lead to believe all have special powers, is driving me towards a path of less glutenous cake baking (and eating)....and as we all know, when something has half the calories, you can eat twice as much!
Ingredients for Plum base
6 medium plums (I used those that came in my Abel and Cole box this week)
150g golden caster sugar
juice of 1/2 a lemon
Ingredients for Cake
170g unsalted butter
170g golden caster sugar
2 medium free-range eggs
2 passion fruit
200g ground almonds
100g fine polenta
2 tsp baking powder
50g pumpkin seeds
+ a little icing sugar and sprig of mint for decoration
Method
There are really two stages to this recipe, which is a little bit more tricky than last weeks Orange and Fig Polenta Cake but it's worth all the effort you but in.
The first stage is to prepare and cook the plums. We need to lightly poach them, to make it easier to remove the skins, then caramelise them in a pan with butter and sugar, before placing them in the cake tin.
Prick the plums a few times and place them in a pan of cold water. Place the pan over a medium / high heat and bring to a simmer. You will start to see the skins come away from the flesh. Simmer for a couple of minutes and remove from the heat. Do not leave them on the heat for too long otherwise they will poach all the way through and become a mulchy mess to prepare!
Drain and peel what should now be easy to remove skins. Squeeze the lemon juice over them and leave them to cool in the fridge for an hour or so.
Grease the sides and line the Base of a 23" loose base flan tin.
Once cooled, cut the plums in half and then slice each half into 3 or 4 slices. Melt a large knob of butter in a frying pan, over a medium heat, and add the 150g of golden caster sugar. Allow the sugar to dissolve to a light bubbling deliciousness. Gently transfer the plums to the pan, making sure the pan isn't overcrowded and the plums are only one slice deep (i.e. don't stack them up), pour any juice that is in the bowl into the pan with the plums and leave them to caramelise in the sugar syrup for a 3-4 minutes. Occasionally tilt the pan away from you and, with a spoon, spoon the syrup over the plums so that they are all coated in the delicious sugar syrup. You will find that the plums start to break down, but thats ok, we're not looking for whole pieces here, just imprints.
Take the plums off the heat and pour the entire contents of the pan into the base of your flan tin. Spread the plums out to an even level and place the tin in the freezer for an hour or so.
You can prepare the plums up to this point a day or two before you complete the bake. If the base is completely frozen when you come to bake, then make sure you remove it from the freezer an hour or so before you want to bake, so that that plums can thaw slightly.
Whilst the plums are in the freezer, you can make the cake mixture, which is quick and simple!
Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 5.
Cream and the butter and sugar together in an electric mixer for 4-5 minutes, until pale and smooth.
Lightly beat the eggs in a separate bowl and, a little at a time - beating in between, add the eggs to the butter / sugar mixture. Beat the mixture for a few minutes to ensure the batter is fully combined.
Spoon the pulp from the passionfruit into a sieve and push it through so that only the juice (not the pips) go into the cake batter. The pips are hard and brittle and don't break down easily in the baking process so it is best just to omit them from the recipe altogether. Beat together again for a few minutes.
In a separate bowl, measure out the ground almonds, polenta and baking powder and lightly stir so they are combined. A little at a time, add the dry ingredients into the batter, mixing on a low setting in between, until all the ingredients are combined!
Remove the bowl from a the mixer and, with a metal or wooden spoon, fold in the pumpkin seeds so that they are evenly(ish) distributed.
Remove the plum tin from the freezer, they should be cooled and semi soft - with a white tinge to the top. Spoon the batter onto the fruit and then spread it out to an even level with a metal palette knife - tip - to stop the batter from sticking to the palette knife, dip the knife in water between uses - the batter will slide of the knife easily.
Place the tin in the pre-heated oven for 40 minutes.
Then turn off the oven and allow the cake to set in the oven for around half an hour.
Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool completely, in it's tin, on a wire rack.
Turn the cake out onto a stand, dust with icing sugar and decorate with a sprig of mint. Serve with natural yogurt and grown-up conversation.
Katie xxx
Fuelled by last weeks discovery of just how great polenta is to bake with, I've devised this cake recipe from scratch. I say cake, it's more like a flan but with moist delicate tart like fruit on the bottom, or the top, or the bottom, or the top. You see, it's a classic 'upside down' cake. You bake it with the fruit on the base and then turn it out to serve.
The use of a variety of ingredients, that I am lead to believe all have special powers, is driving me towards a path of less glutenous cake baking (and eating)....and as we all know, when something has half the calories, you can eat twice as much!
Ingredients for Plum base
6 medium plums (I used those that came in my Abel and Cole box this week)
150g golden caster sugar
juice of 1/2 a lemon
Ingredients for Cake
170g unsalted butter
170g golden caster sugar
2 medium free-range eggs
2 passion fruit
200g ground almonds
100g fine polenta
2 tsp baking powder
50g pumpkin seeds
+ a little icing sugar and sprig of mint for decoration
Method
There are really two stages to this recipe, which is a little bit more tricky than last weeks Orange and Fig Polenta Cake but it's worth all the effort you but in.
The first stage is to prepare and cook the plums. We need to lightly poach them, to make it easier to remove the skins, then caramelise them in a pan with butter and sugar, before placing them in the cake tin.
Prick the plums a few times and place them in a pan of cold water. Place the pan over a medium / high heat and bring to a simmer. You will start to see the skins come away from the flesh. Simmer for a couple of minutes and remove from the heat. Do not leave them on the heat for too long otherwise they will poach all the way through and become a mulchy mess to prepare!
Drain and peel what should now be easy to remove skins. Squeeze the lemon juice over them and leave them to cool in the fridge for an hour or so.
Grease the sides and line the Base of a 23" loose base flan tin.
Once cooled, cut the plums in half and then slice each half into 3 or 4 slices. Melt a large knob of butter in a frying pan, over a medium heat, and add the 150g of golden caster sugar. Allow the sugar to dissolve to a light bubbling deliciousness. Gently transfer the plums to the pan, making sure the pan isn't overcrowded and the plums are only one slice deep (i.e. don't stack them up), pour any juice that is in the bowl into the pan with the plums and leave them to caramelise in the sugar syrup for a 3-4 minutes. Occasionally tilt the pan away from you and, with a spoon, spoon the syrup over the plums so that they are all coated in the delicious sugar syrup. You will find that the plums start to break down, but thats ok, we're not looking for whole pieces here, just imprints.
Take the plums off the heat and pour the entire contents of the pan into the base of your flan tin. Spread the plums out to an even level and place the tin in the freezer for an hour or so.
You can prepare the plums up to this point a day or two before you complete the bake. If the base is completely frozen when you come to bake, then make sure you remove it from the freezer an hour or so before you want to bake, so that that plums can thaw slightly.
Whilst the plums are in the freezer, you can make the cake mixture, which is quick and simple!
Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 5.
Cream and the butter and sugar together in an electric mixer for 4-5 minutes, until pale and smooth.
Lightly beat the eggs in a separate bowl and, a little at a time - beating in between, add the eggs to the butter / sugar mixture. Beat the mixture for a few minutes to ensure the batter is fully combined.
Spoon the pulp from the passionfruit into a sieve and push it through so that only the juice (not the pips) go into the cake batter. The pips are hard and brittle and don't break down easily in the baking process so it is best just to omit them from the recipe altogether. Beat together again for a few minutes.
In a separate bowl, measure out the ground almonds, polenta and baking powder and lightly stir so they are combined. A little at a time, add the dry ingredients into the batter, mixing on a low setting in between, until all the ingredients are combined!
Remove the bowl from a the mixer and, with a metal or wooden spoon, fold in the pumpkin seeds so that they are evenly(ish) distributed.
Remove the plum tin from the freezer, they should be cooled and semi soft - with a white tinge to the top. Spoon the batter onto the fruit and then spread it out to an even level with a metal palette knife - tip - to stop the batter from sticking to the palette knife, dip the knife in water between uses - the batter will slide of the knife easily.
Place the tin in the pre-heated oven for 40 minutes.
Then turn off the oven and allow the cake to set in the oven for around half an hour.
Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool completely, in it's tin, on a wire rack.
Turn the cake out onto a stand, dust with icing sugar and decorate with a sprig of mint. Serve with natural yogurt and grown-up conversation.
Katie xxx
Sunday, 4 August 2013
Orange and Fig Polenta Cake
I know, I KNOW! It's been too long. Almost 6 months. I'm terribly sorry but I started to run out of recipes and I've just been baking the same things over and over again - and who would want to read about that? You're not a forgetful bunch, i'm sure.
Anyway, how are you?! Where are you? Hello....are you still there? I sure hope so!
I thought it only fair to return to this blog with something delicious, but also something that went a little bit wrong. With my 23" cake tin on loan - (including the birthday cake that was contained within it) - I found myself part way through creating this glorious batter before before breaking out into a series of expletives that ended in me crying on the kitchen floor licking my tears and raw egg mix off a spatula. Ok, perhaps I'm exaggerating, but the heat of the last few weeks is really starting to get to me. I appreciate that there are many more important things going on EVERYWHERE than in my kitchen at 9pm on a Saturday night - with only a box of polenta and a flan tin for company. The result was a cake that slightly overflowed the tin, but it is still pretty.
So, here it is. And I think it's a corker! Orange and Fig Polenta Cake. BOOM! get your laughing gear round that!
Ingredients
200g Unsalted butter
200g Golden Caster Sugar
200g Ground Almonds
100g Fine Polenta
2tsp Baking Powder
3 medium free range eggs (or 2 large ones)
Zest of one Orange
Juice of one Orange (probably the same orange as above - don't buy two, you'll only kick yourself later!)
+50g extra Golden Caster Sugar for the glaze
2 fresh figs
some sesame seeds for decoration
Method
Pre-heat your oven to Gas Mark 4 and line the base of a 23" clip cake tin (2" deep minimum)
In an electric mixer, if you have one, or by hand with a wooden spoon, cream the butter and the 200g of sugar until pale and fluffy.
In a separate bowl, measure out the ground almonds, polenta and baking powder - these are your dry ingredients.
In another smaller bowl, lightly whisk the 3 eggs.
Mix a little of the dry ingredients into the butter / sugar mix and beat on a slow setting. Once combined, add a little of the egg and beat until combined. Then a little more of the dry ingredients, then the egg etc and repeat until all of it is combined. Beat for 5 minutes on a low setting to make sure all the ingredients have become quite the best of friends.
Zest the orange before juicing it. Pour half the juice into your cake batter (leaving the other half to one side for the glaze) and mix again. I find it quite tricky to mix zest using an electric mixer, so take the bowl off of the mixer stand and fold in the zest using a wooden spoon.
Pour this mixture into your cake tin and even out with the back of a spatula.
Slice your figs so you have 8-10 even slices and arrange on top of the cake as you wish. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and place in the over for 40 mins. Test the cake using the skewer test. If it comes out clean, then it's done. It may seem a little bit wobbly, but don't worry. If the skewer isn't clean then put back into the over for 10 mins and check again. When done, turn the oven off but leave the cake to start to cool - I find this helps prevent the cake from sinking in the middle.
Mix the 50g of extra caster sugar with the remaining orange juice and, whilst the cake is still warm, prick the top and pour the juice / sugar over the cake. Leave to stand in the tin until completely cool.
Slice, and enjoy with natural yogurt, cream, ice cream and friends xx
Anyway, how are you?! Where are you? Hello....are you still there? I sure hope so!
I thought it only fair to return to this blog with something delicious, but also something that went a little bit wrong. With my 23" cake tin on loan - (including the birthday cake that was contained within it) - I found myself part way through creating this glorious batter before before breaking out into a series of expletives that ended in me crying on the kitchen floor licking my tears and raw egg mix off a spatula. Ok, perhaps I'm exaggerating, but the heat of the last few weeks is really starting to get to me. I appreciate that there are many more important things going on EVERYWHERE than in my kitchen at 9pm on a Saturday night - with only a box of polenta and a flan tin for company. The result was a cake that slightly overflowed the tin, but it is still pretty.
So, here it is. And I think it's a corker! Orange and Fig Polenta Cake. BOOM! get your laughing gear round that!
Ingredients
200g Unsalted butter
200g Golden Caster Sugar
200g Ground Almonds
100g Fine Polenta
2tsp Baking Powder
3 medium free range eggs (or 2 large ones)
Zest of one Orange
Juice of one Orange (probably the same orange as above - don't buy two, you'll only kick yourself later!)
+50g extra Golden Caster Sugar for the glaze
2 fresh figs
some sesame seeds for decoration
Method
Pre-heat your oven to Gas Mark 4 and line the base of a 23" clip cake tin (2" deep minimum)
In an electric mixer, if you have one, or by hand with a wooden spoon, cream the butter and the 200g of sugar until pale and fluffy.
In a separate bowl, measure out the ground almonds, polenta and baking powder - these are your dry ingredients.
In another smaller bowl, lightly whisk the 3 eggs.
Mix a little of the dry ingredients into the butter / sugar mix and beat on a slow setting. Once combined, add a little of the egg and beat until combined. Then a little more of the dry ingredients, then the egg etc and repeat until all of it is combined. Beat for 5 minutes on a low setting to make sure all the ingredients have become quite the best of friends.
Zest the orange before juicing it. Pour half the juice into your cake batter (leaving the other half to one side for the glaze) and mix again. I find it quite tricky to mix zest using an electric mixer, so take the bowl off of the mixer stand and fold in the zest using a wooden spoon.
Pour this mixture into your cake tin and even out with the back of a spatula.
Slice your figs so you have 8-10 even slices and arrange on top of the cake as you wish. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and place in the over for 40 mins. Test the cake using the skewer test. If it comes out clean, then it's done. It may seem a little bit wobbly, but don't worry. If the skewer isn't clean then put back into the over for 10 mins and check again. When done, turn the oven off but leave the cake to start to cool - I find this helps prevent the cake from sinking in the middle.
Mix the 50g of extra caster sugar with the remaining orange juice and, whilst the cake is still warm, prick the top and pour the juice / sugar over the cake. Leave to stand in the tin until completely cool.
Slice, and enjoy with natural yogurt, cream, ice cream and friends xx
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