Plum, Strawberry & Pistachio Polenta Cake

DIFFICULTY
Average Average
COOK TIME
Under 2 hrs. Under 2 hrs.
SERVES
10+ 10+
Plum, Strawberry & Pistachio Polenta Cake
Main ingredients
  • Dairy
Ingredients
Method

Ingredients

  • 125g soft butter, plus extra for greasing
  • 4 ripe but firm plums (approximately 200g)
  • 200g shelled, unsalted pistachio nuts
  • 250g caster sugar
  • 3 medium eggs
  • 60g Greek-style natural yoghurt
  • 200g dried polenta
  • 75g self-raising flour
  • Finely grated zest and juice of 1 small lemon
  • 150g small strawberries, halved
  • 2-3 tablespoons honey, warmed
For the Rose-scented CheesecakeCream:
  • 150g full-fat cream cheese, such as Philadelphia
  • ¼ teaspoon rose water, or to taste
  • 25g icing sugar
  • 100ml double cream
  • 50g Greek-style natural yoghurt
  • Dried rose petals/freeze-dried strawberries/pomegranate seeds/extra chopped pistachio nuts, to decorate – choose any combination to decorate the cream

  • Method

  • 1
    Preheat the oven to 170°C/ Fan 150°C
  • 2
    Grease the inside of the casserole with butter and line the base with a 19cm disc of non-stick baking paper. Halve the plums, discard the stones and cut the fruit into wedges.
  • 3
    Put the pistachio nuts into the bowl of a food processor and grind coarsely. Add 50g of sugar and grind once more until really fine and the texture of ground almonds.
  • 4
    Beat the butter in a bowl for 1 minute until soft. Add the remaining sugar and beat for 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in 50g of the ground pistachio nuts, followed by the eggs, one at a time. Fold in the remaining ground pistachio nuts, yoghurt, polenta, flour, lemon zest and lemon juice.
  • 5
    Spoon the cake mixture into the prepared casserole and arrange the plum wedges and strawberry halves on the top. Bake for 1½ hours or until a skewer, pushed into the centre of the cake, comes out clean. Remove from the oven, brush the surface with the warmed honey and leave to cool.
  • 6
    Meanwhile, for the cheesecake cream, beat the cream cheese, rose water and sugar together in a bowl until smooth. Lightly whip the cream in another bowl into soft peaks. Fold this into the cream cheese mixture with the yoghurt. Spoon into a Le Creuset Stoneware Casserole and decorate with the dried rose petals, freeze-dried strawberries and/or pomegranate seeds and extra chopped pistachio nuts. Serve with the cake.
  • 7
    Cook's note: If you are not fond of the flavour of rose water in the cheesecake cream, simply add the finely grated zest of 1 lemon instead.