We can tell now that Spring is here ! We don’t put the heating on anymore, the windows stay open, the sun come through and shine on my table where I have breakfast. Spring is also that, little things of everyday life that make us smile and be thankful for what we have.

Before strawberries in my garden and piles of summary tarts made with fresh fruits in my kitchen, I baked this polenta cake that I couldn’t not to tell you about…

It’s a copy of my polenta cake with rose water of the 5th of June 2013, but a bit less sophisticated, quicker and without the icing.

Ingredients :

• 220g of unsalted butter at room temperature
• 220g urefined caster suger
• 150g of almonds with no skin (I put peanuts instead)
• 125g of ground almonds
• 3 eggs
• 150g of polenta
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• Zest and juice of one orange
• 12 green cardamom pods

 

For the syrup :

• Juice of one lemon
• 5 tbsp of honey
• 5 cardamom pods
• 1 tbsp of rosewater

 

Method :

Preheat the oven at 180°/Gas 4

Beat the butter and sugar in a mixer till light and fluffy. Blitz the almonds (or peanuts in that case) till they become very finely chopped, almost like powder, then add with the ground almonds in the butter/sugar mix.

Beat the eggs with the fork and pour them in the mixture. In another bowl, mix the polenta and baking powder then fold it in the mix with the juice and zest of orange.

Crush the cardamom pods and extract the little black seeds, grind or crush them a little and add to the cake preparation.

Transfer the cake mixture in a buttered baking tin or a few little ones and smooth the top of each.

Bake for 30min then put the heat down to 160°/Gas 3 for a further 20/25min. The cake has to be firm on the top and if you pick it with a knife, it has to come out clean.

 Make the syrup : Squeeze the lemon and bring it to the boil in a sauce pan, add the honey and the cardamom seeds lightly squashed. Keep the lemon boiling until it forms a syrup (around 5 min). Remove from the heat, stir in the rose water and leave it to cool down a little. Make some little holes in your cake (still warm and in the baking tray), with a fork or a skewer and spoon the syrup over the warm cake.

Leave the cake to cool down and lift it out of the tin.

To be served with greek yogurt or cream.