Blueberry and Orange Polenta Cake

A couple of years ago I tasted the most heavenly polenta cake with a rosemary sirup in the cafe of The Scottish National Galley of Art. The soft texture and sticky sirup was a cake triumph! And even after thinking about this cake more than one should think about cake, it’s taken me this long to give polenta a go myself.

If you need a gluten free friendly cake, this is a good start.

Adapted from Sainsburys Baking Collection.

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100g unsalted butter

100g caster sugar

2 large eggs

100g almonds

50g cashews

90g fine polenta

zest and juice of half a orange

1 ½ tsp baking powder

100ml of crème fresh

100g blueberries

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Preheat your oven to 180 °c /fan 160 °c / gas mark 4. Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin.

In a food processor, whiz the almonds and cashews to a fine dust, set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together, until soft and fluffy. Then add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Now add the polenta, baking powder and orange zest and juice, stir well. Finally add the whizzed almond/cashew mix, together with the crème fresh and half the blueberries. Pour into the loaf tin and add the remaining blueberries on the top.

Bake for 45-50 min, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Serve cool, as it better keeps its shape, with some extra crème fresh.