Lemon Polenta Cake with Rosemary Syrup

[Masco&Bongo]

175g polenta (fine cornmeal)
50g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
5 tbsp plain yoghurt
5tbsp rapeseed or sunflower oil (plus extra for greasing)
grated rind of 2 lemons
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 eggs, plus 2 egg whites
400g caster sugar
2 branches fresh rosemary

Preheat oven to 180 C/350 F/GM 4/Fab oven 160 C from cold.

Sift the polenta, flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Place the yoghurt, oil, lemon rind and juice into a jug and stir until combined.

In a seperate bowl, beat the eggs and egg whites with half of the sugar for a few minutes until creamy. Beat in the yoghurt mixture until smooth and then fold in the dry ingredients until just combined - do not over-mix.

Batter mixture into a 1.2 litre/2 pint lightly-oiled loaf tin lined with greaseproof paper. Bake for 40-45 minutes until a thin skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Meanwhile, pleace the remaining sugar in a pan with 200ml/7fl oz water and the rosemary branches. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Leave to cool completely and then strain through a sieve.

When the cake is cooked, place on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes, then invert and peel off the greasproof paper. Prick all over with a thin skewer or toothpick and drizzle over half of the rosemary syrup so that it completely soaks into the cake. Leave to cool completely. Keep the remaining syrup in the fridge until ready to use.

To serve, cut into slices and drizzle with some more of the syrup, add dollops of greek yoghurt.

(I eat it as is, but use about 3/4 of the syrup to soak the cake!)

[Shirley]

THANK YOU! I'm going to go and make that this afternoon.... stuff all the work that I'm supposed to be doing I NEED CAKE

Doh.... just realised that I haven't got any yoghurt - any suggestions as to what I could use instead? I will ask David to pick up some yoghurt on his way home.

[Millymollymandy]

I have some maize flour that needs using up and loads of rosemary.... so thank you! Need a rainy day though!

[Shirley]

This is a delicious cake - thanks so much for sharing the recipe.

I made it this morning - didn't have the yoghurt yesterday. I fed it to P999j (pauline) and her mum, and to myself and J - we all loved it. The rosemary syrup is out of this world and so easy to do.

I was going to take a photo but there is less than half left now

Highly recommended - this one is going to make it into my recipe book.

[Shirley]

I should also add that I didn't let it go cold completely - couldn't wait.

[the.fee.fairy]

mmm...sounds good

[Shirley]

It's just occurred to me that this would be a great cake to make when you want to make some mayonnaise - use the two egg yolks that were left over from the separated eggs to make delicious mayonnaise.

[Millymollymandy]

I made the cake yesterday as well!

I think I'd prefer it with wheat flour as I'm not so keen on the grittiness of the maize flour.

I do like the rosemary syrup and I've been thinking of things ones could do with that......

All in all a very interesting and different cake.

[Shirley]

bumping this up for Milims... and I think I'm going to make it again this week.

[shae]

Sounds delish! Must give it a go this week.

[MrsD'ville]

This sounds fab, esp the rosemary syrup which I know will send my husband's taste buds to taste bud heaven.

I think of polenta as the granular stuff you can make into a sort of porridge, rather than fine maize flour - could someone confirm please which one is to be used in this recipe, or if you could use either?

Thanks.

[Millymollymandy]

Don't use granular polenta or even maize flour - it's all gritty.

I assume that in England one can get very finely ground maize or cornflour that people are using for all these 'polenta' recipes, who don't complain of the grittiness.

I can't get that here so this recipe which I made with 'French' maize flour didn't work too well, and the Delia cake I made with real polenta was a complete disaster!

[MrsD'ville]

Weel, I like grainy polenta and intended to make the cake with it, but I had an attack of preghead and used fine maize flour instead! It's tastes lovely but I found the texture a bit rubbery, so next time I make it I'll definitely use granular polenta and hope the texture is a less boingy. the syrup was a doddle to make, I made in the microwave as our hob is out of action for a while and it was a breeze and very delicious indeed

[moogie]

I am making this right now and I just had a taste of the syrup and WOW I can't wait until I can poor it over the cake. Rosemary is my current obsession :D

Thanks a lot!

[MrsD'ville mkII]

I've just had to look this up again as we've finally run out of the last batch of rosemary syrup I made and I couldn't remember the proportions. Rosemary syrup is now a staple in our house, particularly over pancakes, and something we give away as pressies and use for barter! Thank you very much for the recipe!