The Polenta Cake with Honey Mascarpone Icing is one of those rustic cakes as well as what I will call one so deliciously flexible you can enjoy it for breakfast (come on, have you not eaten cake for breakfast before?), at lunch, at dinner or just served with a glass of Moscato. The honey mascarpone icing has a creamy, rich but not too sweet flavor, complimenting perfectly the taste and texture of this cake. The combination of the polenta cake with honey mascarpone icing on your palate is enough to keep you from leaving any crumbs behind. It is possible this cake will have you abandoning your good table manners when you use your fingers to get every morsel off the plate.
What makes this cake a little different than most other cakes is that in addition to all-purpose flour, it contains both instant polenta and almond or almond meal flour. When I first made this cake eons ago almond flour wasn't easily accessible. Nowadays I can usually find it my local grocery store (Bob's Red Mill is my favorite brand).
The dry ingredient base for this cake is made up of instant polenta, almond flour, all purpose flour, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 3/4 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt. All of the dry ingredients are combined in a bowl, mixed and set aside.
This cake batter comes together well using a hand mixer (no need to pull out the standing mixer). I like to take the eggs and butter out of the refrigerator the night before so they are at perfect room temperature when I begin to bake. After the butter and 1/2 cup granulated sugar are mixed until light and fluffy, the eggs are added in one at a time just until blended. Lastly you will mix in the vanilla. The batter might look a like curdled but this is how it should look, not to worry.
The dry ingredients are blended into the butter/sugar/egg mixture using a spatula until combined. Be careful not to over mix.
Transfer the batter to a prepared 9 inch pan (pan is buttered and floured as well as lined with parchment paper also lightly buttered). Smooth the top of the batter using an offset spatula. Other than my ice cream scoops, my next favorite nice to have kitchen tool is an offset spatula. It makes the making and frosting of cakes so much easier.
In a preheated 325 degree oven, the Polenta Cake is baked in a nine inch cake pan for 35-40 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. I suggest you begin checking on your cake at the 30 minute mark so you don't over bake it. The finished cake has a beautiful golden color.
The baked cake remains in the pan for 15 minutes before it is unmolded and transferred to a wire rack to continue to cool. The cake needs to be fully cooled before you begin to slather the honey mascarpone icing on it.
I used an Acacia honey for the icing because of it is mildly sweet, light in color and has a hint of vanilla. Because this is a mild honey I used three tablespoons of it, however, if you use a darker or much sweeter honey I would recommend you begin with one tablespoon, taste and then decide whether or not your icing needs any more.
The honey mascarpone icing is one of the easiest, simplest to make. And who does not love easy and simple? Just three ingredients blended with a hand mixer create an incredibly delicious icing. The kind of deliciousness that makes you want to lick the beaters and the bowl. Mascarpone is sweeter than but not as dense as cream cheese. In spite of its' creamy texture you can might want to remove from the refrigerator at least an hour before you begin mixing with the honey and lemon juice. This honey mascarpone icing is also a great alternative to cream cheese frosting.
One your cake has cooled it is ready for the insanely delicious Honey Mascarpone Icing. Again because this is a simple, rustic cake you need only a spatula to lather on the icing. In other words, this is definitely not one of those cakes calling for the use of a either pastry bag or a cake decorating tip. The finished cake may look and should look homemade, but it tastes like it came from one of those Italian bakeries you would be willing to out of your way to get to.
Polenta Cake with Honey Mascarpone Icing
Serves 8-10
Ingredients
3/4 cup instant polenta
2/3 cup almond flour or almond meal flour (recommend Bob's Red Mill almond meal flour)
1/4 all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar, separated (1/4 and 1/2 cup respectively)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
10 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 ounces mascarpone cheese (remove from the refrigerator about an hour before making the icing)
1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
2-3 Tablespoons honey (I used 3 Tablespoons of an Acacia Honey, use less if you are using a darker honey)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Prepare a 9 inch cake pan and line with parchment paper and set aside.
3. Put polenta, flours, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder and sea salt in a large bowl. Whisk ingredients and set aside.
4. Using either a stand mixer or hand mixer, mix together 1/2 cup sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
5. Beat in eggs, one at a time until just blended.
6. Add vanilla (note: mixture may look curdled).
7. Add in dry ingredients stirring with a spatula until combined.
8. Transfer batter to prepared pan, smoothing top with an off set spatula.
9. Bake until tester comes out clean, about 35-40 minutes.
10. Allow cake to cool for at least 15 minutes before removing. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
11. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the mascarpone cheese, lemon juice and honey using a hand mixer. Spread on top of cooled cake and serve.
The sky has been blue and the sun has been out for the past two days. What is it about seeing and feeling the sun that can make one feel downright giddy? But if the weather forecasters are accurate all of this giddiness will be replaced with a bit gloom if they are right about there being snow coming next week. But that is next week, so there is no point in spending any time worrying about what might or might not be. Besides, the weather is way outside the sphere of my influence. And these days, my time is better spent on what it is or who I really can influence. Not all attempts to positively influence can be seen immediately, sometimes it is years before we see (if we are lucky) the impact of our efforts. But whether or not we receive any acknowledgement or reward from the investment of our time and energy we give to our communities, to our professions, and even to those we care very much about shouldn't be what determines how much of ourselves we are willing to give. Hopefully the intrinsic rewards that go with the gift of giving should be enough to sustain us. Although to hear a 'thank you' every now and then, well that can make one feel beyond downright giddy. If you haven't made someone giddy lately, what are you waiting for?
