Amor polenta (cornmeal cake)

1 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
¾ cup Plus 3 tbs unsalted butter; room temperature
1 cup Sugar; (scant)
3 Eggs; room temperature
6 Egg yolks; room temperature
2 tablespoons Maraschino liqueur or 1/2 tsp almond extract; (up to 4)
¾ cup Plus 1 tbs sifted all purpose flour
½ cup Plus 1 tbs yellow cornmeal; plus additional for pans
2½ teaspoon Baking powder
½ teaspoon Salt
Confectioner's sugar; optional

Directions

Amor Polenta (Cornmeal Cake) will be the sweet ending to our Valentine's Day Dinner. I can't resist this cake. It's simple, but rich like a fine pound cake with the subtle flavor and crunch of cornmeal. So forget about the calories and cholesterol and celebrate the "day of amour" with Amor Polenta.

from "The Italian Baker" by Carol Field Cream the butter and cup of sugar with a whisk, if you have one, of an electric mixer until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes at medium speed. Add the eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. The batter should be lemony yellow. Stir in the liqueur.

Sift the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt together and fold into the batter, smoothing out any lumps but taking care not to deflate the batter. Butter 2 rehrucken (saddle of venison) pans (I use one 9x5 loaf pan...honestly, how many of us have a rehrucken pan just waiting to be used :-) and coat with cornmeal. Pour the batter into the 2 (or one) prepared pan(s). Place in a preheated 375 degree oven and bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool on rack and unmold while cake is still slightly warm. Sift confectioner's sugar on top, if desired.

In the summertime I like to serve a slice of this cake with fresh strawberries that have marinated in sugar and balsamic vinegar (approximately 1 pint of sliced strawberries mixed with 3 tbs sugar and 1 tbs balsamic vinegar) and a big dollop of cool whip (yes, I know...it's not REAL whipped cream, but I like it anyway!). My husband loves raspberries and I am a chocoholic so for Valentine's Day I am going to place a slice of cake on a pool of raspberry sauce (frozen raspberries, thawed and then placed in the blender with sugar and lemon juice to taste and then strained to remove seeds). A dollop of cool whip and a piece of Godiva chocolate on the side will complete this lovely desert.

Posted to KitMailbox Digest by ehgf@... (Ellen) on Feb 11, 1998

Related recipes