Lavender Polenta Coffee Cake Recipes

LEMON POLENTA CAKE

Steps:

• Butter a 23cm cake tin and heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Put the lemons in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, drain, pour over more cold water, then simmer for 1 hr until the lemons are really soft, topping up with more water if you need to. Drain the lemons well. When cool, halve them, remove the pips and blitz in a food processor to a purée.
• Add all the other cake ingredients and carry on blitzing until you have a loose batter. Scrape the batter into the cake tin and bake for 40-50 mins until golden and starting to shrink away from the sides.
• While the cake bakes, make the drizzle by mixing the sugar with the lemon juice. When the cake is ready, remove from the oven and leave to cool a little. While still warm, pour over the drizzle and leave to cool completely. Serve with mascarpone.

WHITE WINE & OLIVE OIL POLENTA CAKE WITH LAVENDER SYRUP

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare an 8" cake pan for baking by cutting a parchment circle for the bottom. Next spray the inside of the pan with cooking spray, add the circle and spray the top of the circle so that all parts that the cake will touch are covered with a thin layer of cooking spray.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs, 1 cup sugar, and wine until smooth.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, polenta, baking powder, salt, lemon zest and rosemary until well combined. Pour in the liquid mixture and stir until just combined.
• Pour the batter into the cake pan. Bake until cake begins to pull away from sides of pan and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes.
• While the cake is cooking, make the lavender syrup. Heat the sugar and the water together in a small saucepan. Let this come to a low boil with a minimum of stirring and cook for about 5 minutes until it thickens slightly. Set aside.
• Cool in pan 20 minutes. Run a knife around edge of cake; place a cake plate on the top of the cake pan. Holding both securely, turn both over at once so that the cake is now lying on the cake plate on your counter. Remove the pan and the parchment paper.
• Take a toothpick and poke little holes all over the top of your cake. Slowly pour the syrup all over the top so that it seeps into the cake. Serve and enjoy!

LEMON POLENTA CAKE WITH LAVENDER SYRUP AND RASPBERRIES

Steps:

• 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.

LAVENDER-POLENTA COFFEE CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 deg. Butter and flour a 9" springform pan. In a small bowl, stir together the raisins and brandy let stand 10 minutes to plump. In another bowl, stir together the polenta, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and lemon zest. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine eggs, olive oil, honey and yogurt. Using an electric mixer, beat on med-low speed until just blended. Set aside 3 T pine nuts for the topping. Add the polenta mixture, raisins and remaining pine nuts to the egg mixture and beat on low speed until batter is almost smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth top with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle the reserved pine nuts over the top. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. test with toothpick. GLAZE: Make the glaze i a small saucepan over med. heat, combine the honey, lemon juice, zest and lavender. Bring to boil, stirring until honey is dissolved. Remove from heat. Let cool. Transfer cake to a wire rack. Immediately poke the top all over with a thin wooden skewer and brush top with half glaze. Invert cake onto rack, lift off bottom, repeat process with the other half glaze. Reinvert cake and let cool. Makes one 9" coffee cake.