We are delighted that Neil Forbes from Cafe St Honoré in Edinburgh has shared with us one of his most popular recipes -Lemon and honey Polenta Cake with Pistachio and Crème Fraîche. Neil's cafe is known to be a relaxed friendly environment, where he uses flavours that are in season to create bespoke dishes. Whatever time of year you visit you are sure to find something new.
This recipe is enough for one cake and will take about 30-45 minutes to prepare, and bakes in the oven for one hour.
Ingredients
330g butter, softened
330g unrefined caster sugar
330g ground almonds
1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped out
4 eggs, beaten
Zest and juice of 3 lemons
1 teaspoon of baking powder
150g dried polenta
1 tablespoon of pistachio nuts, not the salted ones
3 tablespoons of Scottish heather honey
Knob of butter for greasing
Sprinkle of polenta for cake tin (optional)
Lots of crème fraîche
Method
Heat the oven to 165°C.
Firstly, grease a 10-inch cake tin with butter and sprinkle with polenta to make it non-stick, or line a Pyrex dish with buttered greaseproof paper.
Cream the butter and sugar together using an electric whisk. Then add the ground almonds, vanilla, and the eggs a little at a time. Stir in the lemon juice and zest, reserving some juice for the syrup. Then fold in the baking powder and polenta and combine into a nice cake mix.
Spoon the mix into the prepared tin or dish and flatten the surface with a wet palette knife until smooth.
Place in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour until golden on top and it feels firm to the touch. Do the prick test by inserting a cocktail stick into the centre of the cake - if it comes out clean then the cake is ready. Leave the cake to cool.
Make a syrup by warming the pistachios, honey and lemon juice on a low heat.
Cut the cake into slices and drizzle with the syrup and serve with a huge dollop of crème fraîche.
