This is a cake recipe originally from the Veneto, which has been much copied all over the Italian peninsula and abroad. I have eaten it in several London restaurants, but because only UHT ricotta is used in most kitchens in Britain, the taste is quite different.
It is a beautifully soft and crumbly cake recipe, delicious with tea and coffee or served as an after dinner pudding. The secret of success, as with everything in the kitchen, is to source the very best ingredients. In my baking I use Rachel’s Farm unsalted butter, Billington’s unrefined cane sugar, organic free range eggs, unwaxed lemons and Taylor and Colledge bean paste. The taste is really noticeable: cheap ingredients lead to disappointing cakes. (Photography by Keiko Oikawa at www.keikooikawa.com)
Torta di Polenta, mandorle, ricotta e uvetta – Polenta, Almond and raisin cake
Ingredients to make a 26 cm. cake
250g. blanched almonds, coarsely chopped
250g. Billington’s raw cane sugar
100g of polenta flour, can be found in Waitrose
100 g. raisins
1 tsp. vanilla paste, or 1 seeds from 1 vanilla pod
Zest of 6 unwaxed, washed lemons
Juice from 3 of the above lemons
6 free range, organic eggs, separated, yolks and whites in two separate bowls
300g. fresh ricotta cheese
Icing sugar for dusting
250 ml. fresh, pouring cream for serving
Method
1. Place the raisins in a small bowl with the juice from the 3 lemons. Add the lemon zest and vanilla paste or seeds. Mix well. Leave for the raisins to soften for 15 minutes. Pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees C. Butter and line a 26 cm. cake tin, preferably non-stick, spring form.
2. In a roomy bowl, combine the chopped almonds and polenta. In another bowl, beat the butter and the sugar, till white and fluffy. You can use a hand held beater. Then add the 6 egg yolks. Keep beating until all the ingredients are incorporated, then mix in the polenta and almond mix.
3. In another bowl, beat the ricotta using a fork. Add the raisins and lemon juice, and mix well. Whisk the egg whites in a roomy bowl, till they form stiff peaks.
4. Fold the stiff egg whites into the polenta / almond mix, and then fold in the ricotta mix. At all stages, fold the mixtures one into the other to ensure you do not lose air molecules.
5. Pour the cake mix into the prepared tin. Evenly distribute the cake mix very well, and tap the cake tin on the work surface. Place the cake tin on a baking tray, and then bake the cake for 40-50 minutes. Test the cake by pressing with flat fingers on the surface. The cake should feel firm and springy to the touch.
6. Remove the cake from the oven, and cool on a wire rack. Dust with a little icing sugar and serve with fresh cream.
