Lemon Polenta Cake

I’m not a great cake fan.  In many ways, I’m happy about this, because if I were a fan of anything else edible, I think I might be in very serious trouble.

But I am a lemon fan – so this is another  wonderful way to serve that glorious fruit. And my kids love it, which is always a surprise!

You need:

1 ¼ cups cake flour (if you want to use Spelt Flour, which is gluten free, then that is also fine.)

1 ¼ cups sugar

½ cup polenta

½ t Bicarb

½ t salt

170ml Buttermilk

¼ cup Olive oil

2 large eggs

1 t vanilla essence

Juice and grated peel of 1 lemon

Mix the flour, sugar, polenta, bicarb and salt together in one bowl.  In another bowl mix Buttermilk, Olive oil, eggs, vanilla essence and lemon rind and juice well together.  Add the wet mixture to the dry and mix well. 

Pour the batter into a well-greased 20 – 22cm spring-form baking tin and bake for 30 – 40 minutes (depending on your oven).  The cake should be browned, but not dry.  Let it cool for about 10 minutes in the pan before allowing it to cool completely on a wire rack.

I put some home-made Lemon Curd on mine.  You could also make an icing  by mixing the juice of half a lemon with about 1 ½ cups of sifted icing sugar and then adding as much water as you think is necessary.

Bacchus Cake

This is not, by any means, the easiest recipe in the world. It was originally created the French Chocolatier Robert Linxe. And OMG is the result fantastic!

You know when recipe books say that "a little effort" is required? Well - a little effort is required here. But don't be daunted. The result is really worth it. Dazzle those friends! Confound those enemies! All it takes is ... a little effort!

(PS, read the whole recipe from start to finish in one sitting - it really helps, I found.)

Bacchus Cake

4 eggs, separated
85g castor sugar
20g cocoa, sifted
25g flour
100 dark Couverture chocolate

Macaroon

6 egg whites
Pinch of salt
150g icing sugar
100g ground almonds
50g pistachios, roughly chopped

Tea and chocolate filling

60g raisins, roughly chopped
100ml Earl Grey tea
150ml Crème fraiche
60g butter, softened and chopped
370 dark Couverture chocolate, finely chopped

Marmalade Cream

90g orange marmalade
300 mascarpone

Preheat oven to 180˚ C. Line a 28 x 32 cm Swiss roll tin with baking paper. Using an electric mixer, whisk egg yolks and castor sugar until thick and pale. Add the cocoa and flour and then the chocolate as well as two tablespoons of hot water. Stir.

Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks and fold it into the chocolate mixture. Spoon the mixture into the tin and smooth the top. Bake 12 – 15 minutes. Leave to cool in the tin.

For the Macaroon:

Preheat oven to 180˚ C. Line a Swiss roll tin with baking paper. Using an electric mixer, whisk the egg whites, a pinch of salt and 50g icing sugar to stiff peaks. Then add the remaining sugar, almonds and pistachios and fold to combine. Spoon the mixture into the tin and smooth the top. Bake 20 minutes. Leave to cool in the tin.

For the filling:

Soak the raisins in the tea for 15 minutes. Drain. Bring the cream and butter to the boil, add the chocolate and stir until smooth. Cool to a spreading consistency.

For the marmalade cream:

Combine the ingredients in a bowl

To assemble:

Invert the cake and macaroon from the tins and remove the baking paper. Trim the edges and cut both the cake and the macaroon into three rectangles. Thinly spread some of the filling over one rectangle of the cake, scatter it with some of the raisins and top it with a macaroon rectangle and half the marmalade cream. Repeat the layers, finishing the cake. Spread the remaining filling over the top and sides of the last rectangle of cake. Refrigerate for one hour, or up to three days.