Recipe of the Week: Grilled Polenta Cake
The texture of this cake is wonderful, especially if you use freshly milled corn. The longer the corn sits after being ground, the more it loses its sweet flavor and becomes starchy. Keep cornmeal in the freezer. Serves eight. (Chef tip: Use unsalted butter for best results.)
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon sugar, divided
8 large egg yolks
1/2 orange, grated zest
1/2 lemon, grated zest
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
1 cup un-blanched almonds
1/2 cup potato starch
1 cup fine stone-ground cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
8 large egg whites
Confectioners’ sugar
Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously butter and line with parchment paper a nine-inch cake pan. Place butter, sugar, egg yolks and citrus zests in large bowl. Add vanilla paste. Beat until light and creamy.
In a food processor, combine nuts, starch, cornmeal and baking powder. Process until finely milled.
Beat egg whites with remaining sugar until they form soft peaks. Gently fold dry ingredients and 1/2 of beaten egg whites into butter mixture; fold in remaining whites just until incorporated. Gently scrape batter into pan.
Bake until cake is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, usually about 40 minutes. Do not over bake.
Cool cake briefly in pan on wire rack. Run the tip of knife around the sides of cake to loosen it from pan; invert onto rack. Let it cool overnight. Slice the cooled cake and brush with melted butter and grill for a few minutes on each sides.