Almond Polenta Cake

This is nothing fancy to look at but the taste is divine. Great to have in the freezer, already sliced into individual portions, to pop out when friends come over.

ingredients

CAKE

1 cup/ 200g butter at room temperature
1 cup/190g granulated sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
3 eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp pure almond or orange extract
2 cups almond flour
2/3 cup polenta (finely ground )
1 1/2 tbsp cake flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
pinch salt

ORANGE CREAM

8 oz mascarpone cream at room temperature
1/4 cup sifted icing sugar
1 tbsp grated orange zest
Orange segments or strawberries or peaches

directions

1
CAKE :
2
Preheat oven to 375F/190C/G5.
3
Butter 8inch cake pan (at least 2 inches deep ). Line the bottome with a round of waxed paper. Butter and flour the paper and sides of pan.
4
Beat the butter until smooth. Gradually beat in the sugar and the lemon zist until light and creamy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Mix in the vanilla and lemon or almond extract. Add the almond flour and beat until blended.
5
In a medium bowl, combine the polenta, cake flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk to blend. Fold the dry ingredients into the butter in several increments. The batter will be thinck. Scrape into the prepared pan.
6
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the top is golden brown and edges begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cover loosely with aluminum foil if the top starts to brown before the center is cooked. When done, let cool in the pan for 10 minutes then turn out to rack and let cool completely.
7
ORANGE CREAM :
8
OK, I’m lazy so even just served with whipped cream is great but if you want to go the whole way, be my guest..
9
Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and mix gently. If you refridgerate, bring to room temperature before icing the cake.
10
To serve, you could have the cake horizontally and spread the orange cream in between layers and then dust the top with icing sugar.