Polenta, ricotta, honey, and figs. These are the key ingredients that are in this unusual cake recipe. I don’t think I ever would have made this recipe if it weren’t for this fun, baking club. I’ve never even bought or cooked (or in this case, baked with) polenta before, so it was all a big learning experience for me.

Cornmeal or Polenta

I learned that cornmeal and polenta are the same thing except polenta is Italian. It doesn’t matter what name it is; the key is the grind.

You don’t want cornmeal or polenta that’s ground too finely. Stone-ground or medium ground is best. Instant or quick cook polenta has been partially cooked and then dried and may not give the cake the right texture. Having said this, I used a package of cornmeal that didn’t state that it was medium grind or stone-ground, but it did have a grain similar to sugar, which I read was what to look for. And the polenta I used had “express” in the title, so I’m guessing it was more finely ground and upon closer inspection was more like table salt than table sugar.

This difference was evident when pouring the batter into the pans. The polenta version was runnier. However, it didn’t affect the outcome of the cake.

Ricotta
I’ve never used ricotta in a dessert before, only in lasagna! It’s an Italian whey cheese that is fresh, unripened, and uncooked. In Italy, ricotta is made from sheep or water buffalo which gives it a more earthy, nutty flavor (according to Wikipedia since I haven’t yet had a chance to try true Italian ricotta). American ricotta (and Canadian, for that matter) is milder.

Honey

Honey is sweet, but the bee stings.
French Proverb

The color of honey comes from the nectar. The darker the color of the honey, the stronger the taste. I had two different honeys stashed in my pantry, so I decided to experiment with a clover honey (a lighter, amber color) and a buckwheat honey (a darker, stronger flavor).


Figs and such
Of course, I had to experiment with all types of figs. I bought some fresh figs before reading through the recipe thoroughly. Oops. Luckily, I picked up some dried ones as well on my trip to the market. I found some baby dried figs and Turkish figs. And, since I love dates, I had to give that a try too.


Garnishes
As for garnishes, I thought a crème fraiche with a hint of ginger and cinnamon would complement this dessert nicely. I found a recipe for crème fraiche in this article.

To make crème fraiche, combine 1 cup (250 mL) of heavy 35-percent cream with 2 tablespoons (25 mL) sour cream in a glass container. Cover and stand at room temperature 24 hours, or until very thick. Stir well, cover and refrigerate. Keeps up to 7 days.

I found some thick double cream as well, and in a blender threw in a couple of stem ginger and some ginger syrup, a dash of cinnamon, and a bit of leftover cream cheese frosting from last week’s Tuesdays with Dorie. This was delicious too with the heat from the stem ginger. Sprinkled with the leftover candied walnuts from last week and diced crystallized ginger, the crunchiness factor was covered. To dress up the plate, I drizzled some honey over it.

As another variation, I bought some Devon cream, whipped it up, and added a few sprinkles of cinnamon and ground ginger. This turned out to be my favorite garnish.

Recipe


You can find the recipe for Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake at this blog Engineer Baker or in the book Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. To see how the rest of the TWD group fared with this week's recipe, click here and then click on each blogger!

Tasting Notes
Some of us liked this cake more than others. It had a crunch to it from the cornmeal (or polenta) and the seeds in the figs that wasn’t what I normally expect in a cake. However, served with the spiced Devon cream, it was a nice dessert. As for the side-by-side taste tests, here are the winners:

• Polenta or cornmeal. It was a tie. It didn’t matter. Although next time I would make sure to get a medium-ground polenta so that it was more batter-like and less runny.

• Clover or buckwheat honey. The amber, clover honey won. The darker, buckwheat honey gave the cake a sweeter taste, but we preferred the lighter taste of the clover honey.

• Fresh figs, dried figs, or dates: Fresh figs won. I liked the softness and sweetness in the fresh fig; the chewiness of the dried figs and crunch of the seeds wasn’t as pleasant. I love dates, so I enjoyed this version too.

Recipe for Next Week (May 6)
Peanut Butter Torte on pages 282-283 chosen by Elizabeth of Ugg Smell Food.

One of my favorite food bloggers, Béatrice Peltre of La Tartine Gourmande, is featured in a "Word of Mouth" interview with Victoria Prescott today on New Hampshire Public Radio. Although that link is no longer available, here are a couple of newer links with interviews with her:

When I saw white carrots in the store, I knew it would be fun to try in this week’s carrot cake recipe. There are other colored carrots you can buy, such as purple, yellow, or red, but white were the only unusual ones I found before the Tuesday deadline. I found these gems after I'd made the cake and found the darker they are, the sweeter they are.

Since white carrots aren’t as sweet as the orange ones, I thought this would be an interesting balance to the sweetness of the cake and icing.

Garnishes
I crave a “crunchiness” in every dish, so I added a couple of garnishes that would feed this craving.

For one, I made some candied walnuts. I mixed some walnuts with 2 tablespoons of corn syrup, ½ tablespoon maple syrup, and 1 tablespoon sugar. I spread this nut mixture on a Silpat and popped it in a 325ºF oven for 15 minutes. They added a nice crunch on top of the cake or sprinkled around the plate.

I also took an idea from Michel Richard in Happy in the Kitchen, and deep fried julienned carrots. Before deep frying them, I dredged them with cornstarch so that the water in the carrots didn't cause the oil to boil over. After frying, I sprinkled them with icing sugar and used immediately (or as soon as I could get everything plated and ready for the camera!). They don’t retain their crunchiness for long.

Another idea from Michel Richard was to make homemade vanilla ice cream with chunks of carrot cake in it. I took the simple route and used my mixer to stir in carrot cake chunks into store-bought vanilla ice cream. This was a great way to make plain ol’ vanilla ice cream delicious.


Finally, I made a carrot syrup from Michel Richard’s cookbook. Into some sugar syrup that’s turned a caramel color (like the caramel for crème caramel), I added freshly squeezed carrot and orange juice and boiled it down. It had a beautiful, rich color and took Dorie’s simple, but tasty dessert up a notch.

Cool baking pan and other fun stuff
I found this cool baking pan in my research about this recipe.


I also found a cute cartoon about carrot cake at this link.

Recipe


You can find the recipe for Bill's Big Carrot Cake in the book Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. To see how the rest of the TWD group fared with this week's recipe, click here and then click on each blogger!


Tasting Notes
This is a great carrot cake recipe. The addition of coconut and raisins makes it extra special. Soaking the raisins in rum beforehand might be a nice variation for next time.

The white carrots were more popular in the cake than the orange ones. The cake made with the orange carrots was a touch sweeter. Although, I liked the color of the orange carrots in the cake, side-by-side, the white ones win in the tasting category.

This is another keeper recipe from Dorie!

Recipe for Next Week (April 29)
Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake on pages 200-201 chosen by Caitlin of Engineer Baker.