After my last post, I suppose you know what I’ve been up to these last few days, huh? Well, yes, some manual labour got done, some weeding got done, and some planting got done. Just, none of it happened the way I’d planned!
I left you having made decisions and creating a really workable plan of action. I just needed a cup of coffee before starting to tackle things. But, guess what! I got a surprise from the heavens (and yes I check multiple forecasts!) with the rain chucking down – much like it’s doing at the moment. So, the plan had to be hastily re-worked.
A couple of days prior, I had gone to the little grocery in the nearest town to get a few essentials. I asked the Hubs what treats he wanted to have in – sometimes he quite likes a little chocolate biscuit or something sweet, especially if he’s beavering away in his workshop. However, he said he didn’t want anything as he was trying to cut back. At the shop, however, I saw the pineapple jaffa cakes that a friend had told me were quite alright. So, I decided to buy a small pack for us to try at home. The Hubs doesn’t really like pineapple, but I thought I’d try anyway.
The following day the Hubs was rummaging around a bit in the kitchen before he turned to me and asked if I’d bought any treats. Of course I hadn’t, as per the directive, except for those pineapple jaffas. Well, his face fell. Off he went back to the workshop, and then to do a few things for me around the house. I felt quite sad about his disappointment.
So, being faced with having to change my garden manual-labour plans at the last minute, I decided to try a Nigella recipe that I’d had open on my phone browser for quite a while – a gluten-free lemon polenta cake. I had all the ingredients in and, the Hubs does like my normal lemon drizzle cake (and cupcakes), so I thought I’d try it and see if he’d be happy with his little surprise treat.
Well, let me tell you! That was a terrible, terrible (read addictive and scrumptious) decision right there!
The recipe was simple and straight forward. There was no fancy method to get right. Just weigh and plop things in as instructed, pre-heat the oven and bake. Fantastic recipe made even better with the absence of flour. I was a bit worried about the Hubs’ reaction as he’s not as exploratory as I am when it comes to tastes, textures and flavours. Because we’re so different that way, I haven’t quite yet mastered the prediction of what he’ll like and what he’ll just refuse to taste – case in point, the pineapple jaffas! (I really did think he’d at least try those, but oh well!)
I’m not sure I can make this lemon polenta cake too often. For me, it had the perfect amount of zing with just the right touch of sweetness. When something has the right amount of tangy zing, forget everything else – I’m hooked. So much more hooked than if it were a chocolate brownie for example. Sweet stuff is a bit boring for me; I don’t crave it or think about it really. But different textures like crunchy corn chips or crumbly Dundee cake pull me in. And, that is exactly what happened with this lemon polenta cake.
I don’t know who considered this more of a treat, the Hubs or me! It is with great pride that I can say that our self-control was epic and the cake lasted for almost 24 hours. I do think that’s only because we had to sleep at some point though!
Anyway, it’s not the report on that day’s activity plan that you expected huh! Yep, yep you know the saying don’t you: “the best-laid schemes of mice and men often go often askew…”. This was penned by a Scotsman actually, so since I’m in Scotland I’ll include that same quotation in the original Scots, as Burns intended: “The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men/ Gang aft agley…”
Here’s the recipe if you’re interested, you can also find it straight from Nigella’s site. What really endeared me to this recipe before I even tried it was the comment “It may seem wibbly but, if the cake is cooked, a cake tester should come out cleanish”. Those are Nigella’s words and I love that she said them!
NIGELLA’S LEMON POLENTA CAKE
INGREDIENTS
FOR THE CAKE
- 200 grams soft unsalted butter (plus some for greasing)
- 200 grams caster sugar
- 200 grams ground almonds
- 100 grams fine polenta (or cornmeal)
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder (see NOTE below)
- 3 large eggs
- zest of 2 lemons (save juice for syrup)
FOR THE SYRUP
- juice of 2 lemons
- 125 grams icing sugar
METHOD
- Line the base of a 23cm / 9inch springform cake tin with baking parchment and grease its sides lightly with butter.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/gas mark 4/ 350°F.
- Beat the butter and sugar till pale and whipped, either by hand in a bowl with a wooden spoon, or using a freestanding mixer.
- Mix together the almonds, polenta and baking powder, and beat some of this into the butter-sugar mixture, followed by 1 egg, then alternate dry ingredients and eggs, beating all the while.
- Finally, beat in the lemon zest and pour, spoon or scrape the mixture into your prepared tin and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes.
- It may seem wibbly but, if the cake is cooked, a cake tester should come out cleanish and, most significantly, the edges of the cake will have begun to shrink away from the sides of the tin. remove from the oven to a wire cooling rack, but leave in its tin.
- Make the syrup by boiling together the lemon juice and icing sugar in a smallish saucepan.
- Once the icing sugar’s dissolved into the juice, you’re done.
- Prick the top of the cake all over with a cake tester (a skewer would be too destructive), pour the warm syrup over the cake, and leave to cool before taking it out of its tin.
