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lemon, polenta and almond passover cake

8 April 2015 by Dominic Franks

… on Sunday the 10th May I will be taking part in the Bold is Beautiful march in central London.  Bold is Beautiful is the new philanthropic campaign by the wonderful people at Benefit Cosmetics.

Founded in 1976, their philosophy has always been that women are their most beautiful when they feel strong and confident. With the launch of the Bold is Beautiful project, they are spreading that philosophy beyond the beauty counter.  Throughout May if you go for a Brow Wax at any Benefit counter in the world 100% of Benefit’s profits of the Brow Wax will go to charities supporting women and girls such as the brilliant Look Good Feel Better and the outstanding Refuge… as many of my regular readers will know The Persuaders has a close relationship with Benefit Cosmetics so The Viking and I are proud to help promote this brilliant endeavour…

…the march in London is the official launch of this new campaign.  We’ll be marching from Cavendish Square through Marble Arch and Wellington Arch and then up into Soho and down Carnaby Street finishing up back at Cavendish Square.  There will be much frivolity along the route with mini-make-overs, sing-a-longs and even a marching band… we start at 10am so do come and join us if you can.  You can apply for a place and download all the information you need here on the Bold is Beautiful website

lemon, polenta and almond passover cake
with all the over-exuberance of Easter what with the chocolate and the bunnies and the simnel cake it’s easy to forget that we’re also celebrating passover… passover is the Spring festival for those of the Jewish persuasion which celebrates the Jewish slaves escape from the pharaohs in Egypt… it’s the story with Moses and the parting of the Red Sea and the story that there was no time to allow the bread to rise in time for their escape and so un-levened bread is served during passover to commemorate this.  It’s not just un-levened bread that we make, there’s actually a whole industry grown up around the creation of products that don’t contain yeast or any rising agents.  It’s actually a coeliac’s dream as there’s no wheat flours allowed.  It means that there’s a whole special section of baking that has developed over the years to create delicious cakes and treats… the most passover popular cake is an almond chocolate cake that I have made on this blog before but this lemon and polenta cake is a little fresher and to be honest i’ve pretty much had my fill of chocolate recently…

this recipe is an adaptation of the one in Nigella’s How to be a Domestic Goddess.

for the cake
200g soft unsalted butter
200g caster sugar
200g ground almonds
100g fine polenta
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
3 large free-range eggs
zest of 2 lemons (save juice for syrup)

for the syrup
juice of 2 lemons
125 grams icing sugar

grease and line the base and sides of a 23cm springform cake tin with baking parchment and pre-heat the oven to 180°C

in a large bowl beat the butter and sugar with an electric whisk until pale 
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 scrape the mixture into your prepared tin and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes
the cake is cooked if a cake tester comes out cleanish and the edges of the cake begin 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.

prick the top of the cake all over with a skewer and pour the warm syrup over the cake. Leave to cool before taking it out of its tin

eat and of course, enjoy!

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Filed Under: Cakes, Eggs Tagged With: #BoldIsBeautiful, benefit cosmetics, bold is beautiful, ground almonds, lemon, lemon cake, passover, pesach, polenta, zest

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Comments

  1. Manu says

    8 April 2015 at 2:54 pm

    Dom, I've never tried polenta cake with lemon, sounds yummy!
    Thanks for sharing

  2. Choclette Blogger says

    8 April 2015 at 4:18 pm

    That cake is such a beautiful lemon yellow Dom, it looks fantastic. Having made Nigella's cake a number of times, I can also attest it tastes pretty good too 😉

  3. Connie says

    9 April 2015 at 8:49 am

    Good luck with the B I B Dom. This cake is so soft and moist in all the right spots and is indeed rocking a rich vibrant yellow. Thanks for the lemony bliss!

  4. Susan Lindquist says

    9 April 2015 at 1:21 pm

    What a beautiful shot from above! Lovely little cake, I say! Bold is Beautiful sounds like a great day out in the fresh air, tooting the horn of natural beauty. Good cause!

  5. Melinda says

    10 April 2015 at 10:21 am

    Dom I hope you're all well and kicking about again. This is a bright simple fancy little cake would be a delight for the tiny weekend fundraiser our community is working on. Any ideas for icing instead of syrup?

  6. Jean | DelightfulRepast.com says

    10 April 2015 at 6:14 pm

    Dom, I love the look of that cake! Right now I'm on a bread kick (especially sourdough), but as soon as I'm ready for a change to cakes … this is it.

  7. Kate Glutenfreealchemist says

    10 April 2015 at 9:03 pm

    This looks beautiful. Moist, lemony and (of course) gluten free. I have been meaning to invest in a good jewish cook book for ages….. I've seen some great passover recipes around and it seems silly not to explore them in more detail.
    Good luck with the march…. it sounds a lot of fun!

  8. Heather Baird says

    10 April 2015 at 10:53 pm

    What a delicious cake! Lemon is where it's at!

    xo

  9. Baking Addict says

    11 April 2015 at 3:38 pm

    I love lemon cakes and this looks divine. Such a pretty colour and perfect for spring.

  10. Jean says

    12 April 2015 at 7:19 am

    I love the texture that polenta gives to a cake, and of course that lovely golden colour.
    Yours looks simply lovely.

  11. Karen S Booth says

    15 April 2015 at 1:19 pm

    I am so sorry that I am behind with your blog Dom – Hannah, boyfriend and 19 guests came over last Friday, until Monday – for Malcolm's birthday weekend and party, and I am JUST catching up now, and what a catch up it has been here, with CAKE now to go with duck and quiche! ANOTHER stunning recipe, Karen

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About Dom In The Kitchen

My name is Dominic, I am a cook, food writer and creative event producer. I write the food blog Dom In The Kitchen and also write a monthly recipe column for Lincolnshire Life Magazine and Good Taste Magazine. I also run creative event production company The Persuaders, producing global events for brands since 1997. I am based both in the small village of Belleau in Lincolnshire and the smaller village of London! Read More…

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