Polenta and Ricotta Cake

It began from the day I bumped into a picture of polenta egg breakfast recipe. It continued with the discussion where to buy organic couscous and polenta in Bangkok, followed by talk of making gluten-free dishes for Contessa's daughter whom has Celiac disease. I took this series of events as a sign to experiment and cook with the yellow cornmeal.

Polenta was originally made with chestnut meal and farro. It was, and remains still, a peasant food. Nowadays it has been given life, with the blend of cheeses and tomatoes, from the essentially bland and common food into the menus in high-end restaurant and supermarket at high price.

You need a baking dish with removable bottom. Otherwise the cake will fall apart when you try to remove it from the dish. I used springform pan. A tip I learned years ago from my very first cheesecake-only recipe book: grease the pan and chilled it until needed. A recent tip I learned from Gordon Ramsey: to be safe, grease the chilled pan again. As a result, the cake pulled away from the edges intact.

This cake surprised me. It's really simple and yet can be classy, with its golden brown color, if you just spend some time to dress it up. I think I'm going to buy a piping tip so I can decorate my future cakes with swirls of pretty cream. The smell of baked honey was god-send: Adrian was wondering when we can eat it when I pulled it out from the oven at 10.30pm last night.I served it with homemade raspberry jam and cream. They compliment the honey-sweet of the cake very well.

You can substitute dried figs with dried apricots. You want them moist and plump. If need be, soak them in hot water, drain and pat dry before adding to the batter.

Ingredients:

• About 6 moist, plump dried figs, chopped into bite-size.
  
• 1 c medium-grain polenta
  
• ½ c all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 c fresh ricotta
  
• 1/3 c tepid water
• ¾ c natural cane sugar
• ¾ c organic honey
  
• Grated zest of 1 lemon
• 8 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 Tablespoon butter, cut into bits and chilled
• 2 large eggs

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 190C.

Lightly grease a 9" springform pan and wrap the bottom with aluminum foil to prevent leakage. Chill in refrigerator until ready to use.

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

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.

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.