Raspberry & lemon polenta cake

Recipe uploaded by

Jane Hornby

8 ratings

Recipe by Jane Hornby

Subscribe to Good Food magazine - 3 issues for £3

Tested

Leave a comment or rate this recipe

1. Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5 and butter two 20cm sandwich tins. Line the bottom of the tins with baking paper. In a large bowl, beat the butter and 225g caster sugar together until creamy and light. Gradually add the egg, little by little, until all the egg is worked in and the mix is pale and fluffy. If the mix looks like it's starting to split, add 1 tsp of the flour, then carry on.
2. Put the polenta in another bowl, then stir in the flour and baking powder. Beat the vanilla extract and zest into the eggy mix, then fold in the dry ingredients. Spoon half the batter into each tin and level the top. Scatter all but a handful of the raspberries over the mix and poke in gently. Sprinkle one of the sponges with the 1 tbsp sugar. Bake for 20 mins until risen and golden, but still with a little wobble under the crust.
3. Open the oven, whip out the sugar-crusted sponge and quickly poke the remaining frozen raspberries into the top. Bake both sponges for 10 more mins or until springy in the middle. If this sounds too tricky, just leave the sponges to bake for 30 mins - the cake won't look as glam, but will still taste great (you can add the leftover berries to the filling instead). Cool in the tin for 10 mins, then cool completely on a rack. Be careful when turning out the raspberry-topped sponge and slide it off its base rather than turning it upside down.
4. When the sponges are cold, beat the soft cheese with the icing sugar, lemon zest and a little of the juice to loosen if it needs it. Very lightly whip the cream so that it just holds its shape, then fold into the cheese. Fold in the defrosted raspberries. Use to sandwich the sponges together, sugar-crusted on top, and serve dusted with more icing sugar.

Frozen berries

Frozen berries are a fantastic freezer standby. They're much cheaper than fresh at this time of year and, crucially, were picked at the height of their season (usually in the UK) so they're full of flavour. To defrost, lay in a single layer on a plate and leave at room temperature for about 20 mins. Treat them a little more carefully than fresh as the freezing process makes them quite delicate.

Per serving

608 kcalories, protein 8g, carbohydrate 58g, fat 40 g, saturated fat 23g, fibre 2g, salt 0.97 g

Latest comments and suggestions

• Liz

  18 November 2007

  Liz commented on this recipe

  Best cake I've ever eaten - very easy to make & looks so professional. Give it 5 stars.

  Flag as inappropriate

  Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  Your name: Reason:
• Carole

  02 December 2007

  Carole rated and commented on this recipe

  

  Enjoyed by all at a family dinner.

  Flag as inappropriate

  Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  Your name: Reason:
• S Bagwe

  19 December 2007

  S Bagwe rated and commented on this recipe

  

  I make an extra simple version without the frosting or polenta. Just use all flour (no polenta) and put all the raspberries in the cake. I make an optional glaze of icing sugar with lemon juice, but my kids and guests eat it plain also.

  Flag as inappropriate

  Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  Your name: Reason:
• CFL recipes

  10 January 2008

  CFL recipes rated and commented on this recipe

  

  Really delicious. Quite a dense cake due to the polenta - which makes it go further. But it wont' last long!

  Flag as inappropriate

  Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  Your name: Reason:
• Deborah

  12 February 2008

  Deborah rated and commented on this recipe

  

  Gorgeous cake with some greedy guests even having a second helping at my Italian themed dinner party! Looks VERY professional and the hint of lemon is lovely!

  Flag as inappropriate

  Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  Your name: Reason:
• shoe2boot

  01 March 2008

  shoe2boot rated and commented on this recipe

  

  Superb Cake :o) Tasted absolutely delicious and everybody wanted the recipe. I used fresh raspberries as that's what I had in the fridge. Perfect for afternoon tea, summer picnic or fete stall, will certainly be making it again soon !!

  Flag as inappropriate

  Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  Your name: Reason:
• Liz

  13 March 2008

  Liz commented on this recipe

  I have made this cake several times and each time it tastes better and better a firm family favourite. Very easy to make worth the extra effort.

  Flag as inappropriate

  Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  Your name: Reason:
• Julia

  28 April 2008

  Julia rated and commented on this recipe

  

  I made this cake for a birthday party, so moist and it went down very well and I cut it into 16 pieces and it was plenty.

  Flag as inappropriate

  Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  Your name: Reason:
• Hannah

  20 May 2008

  Hannah commented on this recipe

  We really enjoyed this cake as sunday lunch pudding. Then as monday lunch pudding as well! Being cows milk free in our house I used toffuti plain cream cheese (instead of the cream and cream cheese) as the filling which worked really well.

  Flag as inappropriate

  Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  Your name: Reason:
• abla

  24 June 2008

  abla commented on this recipe

  I made this for a birthday at work, didn't use polenta - I was told it was even better than 'the ultimate chocolate cake' (also on this website) which had rave reviews!!! Deffo recommend (mine didn't look quite as good as the picture though as the sugar on top cracked when I pushed in the second lot of raspberrys but it still tasted great)

  Flag as inappropriate

  Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  Your name: Reason:
• lainiewong

  21 July 2008

  lainiewong rated and commented on this recipe

  

  Very yummy and enjoyed by all. Very easy to make and the crunchy texture on the outside of the cake was deliciously different. Would definitely make it again.

  Flag as inappropriate

  Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  Your name: Reason:
• sally

  07 September 2008

  sally rated and commented on this recipe

  

  Perfect cake light and delicious, exactly how cake should be!

  Flag as inappropriate

  Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

  Your name: Reason:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3807/

Your binder

• Register
• Sign in
• More info

Save your favourite recipes; add, rate and comment on recipes. Plus, get our newsletter.

Ingredients

FOR THE CAKE

• 225g very soft butter
• 225g caster sugar , plus 1 tbsp
• 4 eggs , beaten
• 175g fine polenta
• 50g plain flour
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• finely grated zest of 1½ lemons
• 200g frozen raspberries , left frozen
• icing sugar , or more to taste (optional)

FOR THE FILLING

• 100g soft cheese at room temperature (we used Philadelphia)
• 1 tbsp icing sugar , or more to taste
• finely grated zest of ½ lemon , plus a squeeze of juice
• 142ml tub double cream
• 100g frozen raspberries , defrosted

Search Good Food

Keywords

Filter search

Recipes All this site The web

Refine your recipe search

Search filter options

Search by cooking times Less than 10 minutes 10-30 minutes 35-60 minutes Over an hour Search by difficulty Easy Moderately easy For the keen cook Search by cuisine American British Cajun & Creole Caribbean French German Greek Indian Italian Mediterranean Mexican Moroccan Scottish Spanish Swiss Thai Vietnamese Search by course Warm starter Cold starter Main course Side dish Pudding Search by calorie range Less than 200 200-400 400-600 600-800 Over 800 Search by occasion Midweek meal Dinner party Family favourite Birthdays Christmas New Year Mother's Day Chinese New Year Easter Search by chef Good Food Team olive Angela Nilsen Annabel Karmel Anthony Worral Thompson Gary Rhodes Gordon Ramsay James Martin John Torode Ken Hom Lesley Waters Mary Cadogan Merrilees Parker Nick Nairn Orlando Murrin Ruth Watson Silvana Franco Thane Prince Tony Tobin Search by diet Vegetarian Vegan Gluten-free Dairy-free Nut-free Egg-free Low-fat Low in salt Suitable for diabetics Search by magazine BBC Good food olive Search by servings 1 2 4 6 8 For a crowd

Difficulty and servings

Serves 8

Preperation and cooking times

Prep 15 mins

Cook 30 mins

Ingredients

FOR THE CAKE

• 225g very soft butter
• 225g caster sugar , plus 1 tbsp
• 4 eggs , beaten
• 175g fine polenta
• 50g plain flour
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• finely grated zest of 1½ lemons
• 200g frozen raspberries , left frozen
• icing sugar , or more to taste (optional)

FOR THE FILLING

• 100g soft cheese at room temperature (we used Philadelphia)
• 1 tbsp icing sugar , or more to taste
• finely grated zest of ½ lemon , plus a squeeze of juice
• 142ml tub double cream
• 100g frozen raspberries , defrosted

Per serving

608 kcalories, protein 8g, carbohydrate 58g, fat 40 g, saturated fat 23g, fibre 2g, salt 0.97 g

Your binder

Here are three other great reasons why to sign up:

• You get an online binder, where you can store all your favourite recipes and create menus.
• You can add your own recipes to this site for others to try; plus, rate and make comments on recipes, and share your views on our blog.
• You can sign up for our weekly newsletter (sent out on Wednesdays) - it's packed with recipes, special offers and competitions.