TWD: Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie pick is courtesy of Caitlin of Engineer Baker. I must have missed this recipe when I first got Baking from My Home to Yours and I can't believe I did. I love cornbread and that is cake like right? Of course, its not exactly the same as a polenta dessert cake. This seemed like something that Giada De Laurentiis would make and as she is one of my favorite Food Network chefs so that made me even more eager to try it.

To get myself started out right this time and not be scrambling around trying to get everything ready a different times, I decided to have all of my dry ingredients set out and ready to go before I did anything else. You know...I really liked having everything set out. For some reason it made me feel all chef like. I may not be a real chef but it was fun to feel like it for awhile.

The cake itself came together very quickly (thanks to my readiness). The recipe called for dried figs but I unfortunately couldn't find any and I decided to go with dried cranberries. I seem to be using them an awful lot lately but I like them so it isn't a big hardship. I was quite happy with the cake at this point. Since I halved the recipe, it filled a 8 in fluted tart pan with no batter left over and it didn't overflow when baking. See? Nice and pretty!

My first mistake was to not follow the directions and put the empty tart pan on a baking sheet before I filled it. Big Mistake! Big...huge mistake! When I was putting it on the sheet pan, I accidently pushed the bottom up slightly. I checked to make sure it was okay and I didn't see any leaks so I put it in the oven. I check on it after it had been there for about 4 minutes and saw that it had in fact started leaking in the bottom of the sheet pan. Groan. I took it out and dumped it into a bowl so I could fix the pan. Once it was ready, I put it back in and thankfully no more leaks. It wasn't as nicely layered and pretty as before but that was ok. I was sure it would take the same...derrr.

When it was done baking (40 minutes or so later), I took it out to cool and after the required waiting time I took the rim off so it could finish cooling. The rim slid up my arm...and the cake slid onto the cabinet and crumbled. I won't repeat the words that came out of my mouth but needless to say...they weren't very lady like. After the first disaster, I was okay with it. This time, not so happy. I dumped the cake on a plate to cool and walked away from it for awhile. When I finally dragged myself back to it I used one of my new pretty new plates I bought at Target to taste out the crumbled cake. I topped it with a dollop of yogurt. I guess it prettied it up some what, eh? lol

 

Even though I had lots of troubles getting made and plated, I enjoyed the cake. It was a little too sweet but I think that could be fixed easily next time by reducing either the sugar a bit or the honey. This is a very Italian/Mediterranean tasting cake. I'm sure that would have been played up really good with the figs. I'll have to track some down next time. Great choice Caitlin! I'm looking forward to having it again...disaster free!

Next week's recipe is courtesy of Elizabeth of Ugg Smell Food. Check out the other bakers at Tuesdays with Dorie to see how everyone else did!

Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake

About 16 moist, plump dried Mission or Kadota figs, stemmed (I used dried cranberries)
1 c. medium-grain polenta or yellow cornmeal
½ c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 c. ricotta
1/3 c. tepid water
¾ c. sugar
¾ c. honey (if you’re a real honey lover, use a full-flavored honey such as chestnut, pine, or buckwheat)
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 large eggs

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 10 ½-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom and put it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

Check that the figs are, indeed, moist and plump. If they are the least bit hard, toss them into a small pan of boiling water and steep for a minute, then drain and pat dry. If the figs are large (bigger than a bite), snip them in half.

Whisk the polenta, flour, baking powder, and salt together.

Working with a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the ricotta and water together on low speed until very smooth. With the mixer at medium speed, add the sugar, honey, and lemon zest and beat until light. Beat in the melted butter, then add the eggs one at a time, beating until the mixture is smooth. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are fully incorporated. You’ll have a sleek, smooth, pourable batter.
Pour about one third of the batter into the pan and scatter over the figs. Pour in the rest of the batter, smooth the top with a rubber spatula, if necessary, and dot the batter evenly with the chilled bits of butter. (I forgot this step.)

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. The cake should be honey brown and pulling away just a little from the sides of the pan, and the butter will have left light-colored circles in the top. Transfer the cake to a rack and remove the sides of the pan after about 5 minutes. Cool to warm, or cool completely.