Raspberry Lime Drizzle Polenta Cake

I made this cake for a picnic at the beautiful Dyrham Park last week and it went down a real treat. I think it embodies the glorious, heavenly summer we are (were!) having at the moment in the UK, as much as I feel orange and cranberry muffins embody winter. Actually the two are really quite similar in theme and flavour yet are seasons apart.

The first time I tried polenta cake was when an Italian friend introduced me to a lemon one and since then I've been hooked. Given a choice of a rich, moist chocolate cake or a citrus polenta cake to go with a cuppa, even an indecisive cake-lover like me will not hesitate to opt for the polenta. There's something exquisite and refined, and almost healthy, about polenta cake. I can't help but feel quite lady-like whilst eating it!

My recipe is adapted from this one and I am chuffed to bits with how it turned out. The polenta gives the edges a bit of a crunch and the inside is lovely and moist. I was worried the cake would be either too sweet or too sour but neither were the case at all. It was such a success I've already made it again since!

Dyrham Park

Raspberry Lime Drizzle Polenta Cake
Makes one 8 inch square cake
For the cake:

• 200g softened butter
• 200g golden caster sugar
• 3 medium eggs
• zest of 2 limes
• juice of 1 and a half limes
• 150g polenta
• 120g plain flour
• 1 and a half teaspoon baking powder
• 225g raspberries

For the syrup:

• juice of 3 and a half limes
• zest of 1 lime
• 120g golden caster sugar

Line 8 inch square tin (not loose-based) with buttered greaseproof paper and preheat oven to 160C. Cream butter and sugar together until light. Gradually beat in eggs then the lime zest. Fold in polenta, plain flour and baking powder followed by the lime juice. Fold in half of the raspberries and turn the mixture into baking tin. Scatter the remaining raspberries on top which will sink as the cake rises. Bake for 1 hour (cover cake with foil if it starts to brown too much) or until a skewer pushed into centre is clean when removed.

Meanwhile make the syrup: put the lime juice, zest and sugar into a saucepan. Put over a low heat and stir, allowing sugar to dissolve. Do not allow to bubble. As soon as cake comes out of oven, prick all over with skewer and spoon syrup over it. Allow to cool and cut into 12 pieces to serve. To store, wrap in paper and/or foil.

Reine de Saba Brownies

What do you do when when lectures are officially cancelled because of snow? Jump for joy and bake brownies of course! I've made brownies twice before and both times they didn't turn out how I wanted. Texture-wise, taste-wise, everything. The perfect brownie recipe I think is one of the most elusive and this along with previous failures certainly made me wonder whether I should try again. However when the idea of that yummy chocolately dense fudgy gooeyness enters my mind I always want to be able to make it into something tangible, through my own efforts.

So here is my latest attempt which I made today and they're actually really good, my best attempt yet. Prevous mistakes have taught me well. I've learned that recipes with too much 70% chocolate and cocoa powder make brownies that are far too bitter. I've learned that I should not leave it baking for just a little longer. I've learned that plain brownies are better than those loaded with chocolate chunks or nuts. And from bakery or coffee-shop bought brownies, I've learned that I have a preference for brownies which have gound almonds in them.



So a bit of a google search brought up Reine de Saba (Queen of Sheba) brownies which are a French brownie. These are based on the Reine de Saba chocolate and almond cake which requires the separating of eggs and the whisking of egg whites, and the addition of rum amongst some other ingredients. However the Reine de Saba brownie recipe which seems to be quoted all over the internet omits these.

The recipe makes soft, dense brownies and although they lack the flaky top layer, the top still has a slight bite and crack to it. I personally would prefer them slightly richer because I do like my brownies quite intense, then they would be perfect!

Reine de Saba brownies
Makes 9 squares

125g dark chocolate (I used 70%)
125g butter
125g sugar
3 eggs
60g ground almonds
50g plain flour

Preheat oven to 180˚C and line an 8x8 inch square cake pan. Melt the chocolate in a large bowl over simmering water. Mix in the butter until melted. Remove bowl from heat and mix in the sugar, then whisk in the eggs, and finally incorporate the ground almonds and flour. Pour mixture into the cake pan and bake for 15-20 minutes.

I baked mine for 20 minutes however I think less would have been better, or 20 minutes at a lower temperature, as the edges were a wee bit overdone. The middle was however lovely and dense and gooey.

Banana Bread

Everyone I know likes banana bread. It's one of those cakes that spans all tastes and ages. Young and old alike love it, even some who hate bananas love it. It's that very true and unassuming quality about banana bread which makes it appeal to the masses. It's the labrador of the cake world. It's a hug in a cake.

At home our most baked cake without a doubt is banana bread (or 'fanana fred', as we like to call it for some odd reason). This is no surprise because it is so quick and easy to make. At the same time it tastes scrumptious and fills the house with a welcoming aroma as it bakes. I'm certain that when I go home my mum buys more bananas than we can eat so she can dupe me into making batches of banana bread. And as the dutiful, banana-bread-loving daughter that I am, I pretend to be oblivious to her wily ways and bake double batches at a time with glee.



Traditionally we used to follow a recipe in one of my mum's cook books until I, like many the nation's domestic bakers, was drawn by Nigella Lawson's alluring love of food and I decided to try her recipe one day. What a revelation. I already thought our banana bread was good, but her recipe makes for one that is so much fluffier in texture and more melt in the mouth but without losing any of that all important hardy sponginess. Everyone I have made it for or I have passed the recipe to raves about how delicious and soft it is.

Nigella's recipe can be found here but I haven't mentioned yet that all my gushing refers to my version in that I omit the alcohol, fruit and nuts. I can't have foreign bodies in my banana bread! Banana bread is best enjoyed without crunchy nuts and chewy fruits disrupting its lovely squidgyness and comforting flavour. As I said it's the unassuming constitution that makes it what it is. Blinging it up is like trying to turn it into something it is not. I am so adamant of this that I will not even have chocolate in my banana bread. That is how stubborn I am about banana bread but it is only because I love it so, just the way it is.