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Sunday, September 21, 2014

Polenta, apple and dried fruit country cake (Italian-style)


This is a no-added-sugar and low-fat version of a country home cake typical to the South of Italy. Made with polenta flour, stale bread, olive oil and apples and sweetened with dried fruit like raisins and figs. A healthy alternative to richer cakes, perfect to serve at breakfast or as a mid-day snack, accompanied by milk, coffee or tea. 
Recipe slightly adapted from here (I added a little rum to moisten the fruits).
P.S: I cooked this on a spontaneous visit and all I had to take pictures with was a very old camera. In case you were wondering about the low quality pics.

Last year: Alivenci (Polenta cream cake bars) (Moldavian and Romanian).
Two years ago: Mascarpone marbled brownies.
Three years ago: Baby making and no cooking :).




Ingredients (for a 28 cm spring-form cake tin):
  • a little butter for greasing the tin
  • 100 g polenta flour
  • 200 g flour
  • 100 g stale bread
  • 500 ml milk
  • 3 eggs
  • 50 ml olive oil
  • 100 g dried figs
  • 100 g raisins
  • 2 tablespoons dark rum
  • 4 apples
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • grated zest from 2 oranges and 2 lemons


Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C. Chop the dried figs a bit and put them in a bowl with the raisins. Add the rum and mix them well. Let them soak up for at least 30 minutes. Peel, core and cube the apples.

Crumble the stale bread into fine breadcrumbs. Put the polenta flour, regular flour, and breadcrumbs in a large bowl.

Add the salt and cinnamon and mix the flours well. Add the milk, oil, eggs and citrus zest

Mix very well until even. Add the cubed apples and dry fruits.

Mix again. Grease the cake tin with the butter and transfer the cake batter in it. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 50-60 minutes or until the cake looks golden. Take out, remove from the tin and allow to cool:

Slice and dig in! :)

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