Lemon Polenta Cake With Lavender Syrup and Raspberries
"This lush Italian dessert cake makes a bold and unusual statement with the addition of fresh lavender syrup. It is an elegant Dinner Party Dessert Cake which marries fruit & herbs together in a fresh & imaginative way! One of my "Stand By and Never Fails to Please" dinner party desserts!! Great served with just the simple addition of some creme fraiche. If you are using dried lavender flowers, please remember that they are more pungent than fresh flowers, so use sparingly!
NOTE: I would be very wary of using too much lavender - it is quite a pervasive flavour, the essence of this recipe is that delicate flavours marry well with each other & are not too overpowering!"
photo by Darkhunter
- Ready In:
- 1hr 5mins
- Ingredients:
- 13
- Serves:
-
8
ingredients
- 170.09 g polenta
- 56.69 g plain flour
- 7.39 ml baking powder
- 1.23 ml salt
- 73.94 ml of thick natural yoghurt
- 73.94 ml sunflower oil, plus extra for greasing
- 2 large lemons, zest of, grated
- 29.58 ml lemon juice
- 2 eggs
- 2 egg whites
- 396.89 g caster sugar
- 2-4 sprig of fresh lavender flowers
- fresh raspberry, to serve
directions
- 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.
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Reviews
-
Somehow my review got lost so am inputting again. unbelievably good and incredibly easy! It has such a fresh vibrant, light and lovely taste. I made this as a cake and also a few mini muffins because my loaf tin was shorter. Amazing both ways. In fact for a cocktail party i would make them as mini muffins they are so pretty. The lavender syrup just set it off perfectly. just a tip, don't use splenda in this. Made it for the 2nd time yesterday and by using 1/2 splenda i lost the wonderful airy quality of it -
So very good! Unfortunately, my polenta wasn't fine enough, so looks a little coarse, but the taste was all I could ask for! Of course, it was enhanced by using Augerge de la Fontaine dried lavender flowers to make the syrup! And I didn't have fresh raspberries, but think the basic flavors were well represented! Thnx for sharing, FT! Made for KcK's Forum. -
OOHHHH LA LA!!! This was soooo good!! I LOVE the lavender syrup!! I had dried lavender & used about 1tsp of buds. Absolutely divine!!! Thank you! -
Lovely cake, but didn't think that 2 sprigs was enough to make it taste of lavender once the syrup was on the cake. I think I would use 4 or 5.
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
<p><strong><span>The sunflowers in the field behind my house in SW France:</span></strong></p>
<p><img title=Sunflowers src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/DSCN8221.jpg alt=Sunflowers width=640 height=480 /><br /><strong><span><br /><br />I am British (English-Scottish), but I was born in South Africa and have lived all over the world, including Hong Kong, Germany, Cyprus, USA & Singapore. I have also been very fortunate to have travelled extensively over the years.........I still have wanderlust! <br /><br />I used to be an English Literature & Art History teacher & lecturer; before that, I trained and worked as a Graphic Designer for many years. I now live in France with my husband & my daughter who has just started university in September 2006. We also have one very chatty Burmese cat Willow, who allows us to live with her here! (I used to have three cats, I recently lost Monty, a beautiful seal point Siamese and before that, Rama, who was a debonair blue point Siamese cat - I would love to have another Siamese cat or cats in the future!)</span></strong></p>
<p><em><strong><span>This is my Burmese Cat, Willow, sunning herself on the log pile in the kitchen garden:</span></strong></em></p>
<p><strong><img title=My src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/ABaconButtyandSundryFoodPhotos34.jpg alt=My width=640 height=480 /></strong></p>
<p><strong><span>Here is my lovely Monty, a seal point Siamese, and Willow, sitting in the kitchen garden last year, and a few months before Monty died; he was 18yrs old:</span></strong></p>
<p><img title=Monty src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/AbsolutelySinfulStickyToffeePudding.jpg alt=Monty width=640 height=480 />My</p>
<p><strong><span>This is my wonderful old boy, Rama, a blue-point Siamese, who died when he was 20yrs old - excuse the old and much sellotaped photo:</span></strong></p>
<p><img title=Rama src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/Rama1stOctober2004164.jpg alt=Rama width=517 height=639 /></p>
<p><strong><span>My favourite pastimes are: reading, writing, painting & drawing, photography, gardening, anything creative, walking, travelling, dining out and of course COOKING! I love all types of cuisine, but especially Traditional British - and NO it is NOT all bad!! I particularly love food associated with the changing seasons plus traditional feasts & festivals, as well as Slow Cooking. I also enjoy French & North African cuisine, come to think of it, there isn't much I don't like! <br /><br />My husband & I run a Chambres D'Hotes, (Bed and Breakfast) called Auberge de la Fontaine here in beautiful South West France; we specialise in Gourmet Food & Wine Breaks, French Antiques & Restoration courses, French Language courses and French Cookery classes. Our home is completely furnished with Antique French furniture that we have rescued & restored ourselves. Our charming village has one of the oldest Churches in the region & it is famous for its connection with the St.Jacques de Compostella Pilgrimage route, as well as being within the Cognac & Bordeaux wine growing area. <br /><br />We have a wonderful garden where we grow ALL of our own herbs and most of our fruit and vegetables. I specialise in rare, unusual and old-fashioned herbs, which I grow in our walled garden. As well as growing herbs, I also grow many different varieties of lavender, old-fashioned shrub roses and heirloom fruit and vegetables. <br /><br />We have lived overseas for many, many years now - but we both still love going home to Northern England, near Scarborough & York, to visit our family & friends. We also love indulging in dining out when we are there, in a wide variety of EXCELLENT Gastro-Pubs that we have in North Yorkshire; and popping in to have a Pint of REAL ENGLISH ALE in our local pub is a always a must!! <br /></span></strong></p>
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