Blueberry-Lavender Polenta Cake
This cake can be made with different fruits, and herbs, or even made plain. Try rosemary, thyme, or lemon zest, or add blackberries instead of blueberries. At the restaurant, they make lavender sugar by blending sugar with some dried lavender in a food processor and use it to coat the cake pan.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup polenta
- 1 1/3 cups sugar, plus more for cake pan
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon lavender, crushed
- 5 eggs, at room temperature
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or seeds from 1/2 split vanilla bean
- 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
- 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries, tossed in 2 tablespoons flour
- Whipped cream, for serving (optional)
- Blueberry compote, for serving (optional)
Directions
- To toast the polenta, put the polenta in a small dry skillet over medium heat; shake occasionally and toast until lightly browned and fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside to cool.
- Preheat the oven to 325 F. Butter a 10-inch round cake pan and dust it with sugar.
- Sift together the flour, toasted polenta, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Stir in the lavender.
- In another medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and egg yolks, olive oil, and vanilla. Cream together the butter and sugar with electric beaters or in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Slowly add the egg mixture and blend until smooth. Use a rubber spatula to fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Add the blueberries that have been tossed with flour and fold them into the batter. Pour the batter (which will be thick, like muffin batter) into the prepared cake pan, smoothing the top. Bake until firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool, then invert onto a serving plate to cut into pieces to serve.
Notes
Serves 8-10
