Corn cake with limoncello: yellow raised to the second power

luglio 7, 2010

Over the past two weekends I gave complete freedom to my culinary vein to put aside a good supply of recipes to deal peacefully with the upcoming summer, as it promises to be not only terribly hot but also very busy: I cooked meat, desserts, pasta… but then, again, it happens all the times! You make a recipe and you fall in love. A texture, a smell or a memory and she creeps into your heart, asking for attention, she wants the front page the next morning. I tried to take time, to convince her that it is not kind for the latest addition to outdo the older recipes, waiting patiently in line for days, with photos ready and a story in my mind. But she has the enthusiasm of youth on her side, and she definitely won!

On my quest to discover new flours (at least for me), I bought at NaturaSì shop a stone-ground corn flour from organic farm, a deep, intense and joyful yellow flour. On Cavoletto’s book there is a recipe for a polenta cake with raspberries: my first intention was to make it step by step without any change, but then I met Tiffany berries at the supermarket!

I decided to improvise and let the yellow guide me… yellow as the school bus from which I could see the blond head of Claudia when I walked her to the bus stop to go to kindergarten, yellow as the yellow cab in New York that one day I’ll stop with a whistle, charged with bags after a day of shopping, yellow as the solar plexus chakra, the fire that burns inside and shines like a jewel, the individual willpower, charisma and effectiveness, yellow as Aunt Theresa’s limoncello*, always present in our freezer.

So I created a corn cake with limoncello, with a rustic texture given by corn flour but so deliciously scented thanks to the addition of limoncello. A scent that fills the kitchen while cooking, but gives its best when the cake is cold and a bite explodes in your mouth with all its aromas.

* Limoncello is a lemon liqueur produced in Southern Italy, made from lemon rinds, alcohol, water, and sugar. It is bright yellow in color, sweet and lemony, but not sour since it contains no lemon juice.

Ingredients:

• butter, 225 gr
• caster sugar, 225 gr
• corn flour, 175 gr
• eggs, 4
• limoncello, 100 ml
• flour 00, 60 gr
• baking powder, 2 teaspoons
• limon thyme, a few sprigs
  
• more butter and corn flour to butter and flour the mould
  

Beat softened butter with sugar. Add eggs one at a time, then corn flour, plain flours and baking powder sifted together. Add the lemon thyme leaves and about 100 ml of limoncello.

Grease a round baking pan of 24 cm in diameter, sprinkle corn flour and remove excess. Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake in preheated oven to 190°C for 40 minutes. Let it cool down completely before serving. Dust with icing sugar.

Extra tip. For adults, not for little children: you may drizzle the cake with extra limoncello when serving: although I am a former teetotal, I assure you it is really, really, *really* delicious!

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Posted in Baked Good, Desserts