Food At Faithlegg - Blackberry And Lemon Polenta Cake

August is here, and the hedgerows are overflowing with tart blackberries. Jenny Flynn has crafted a recipe to ensure that these berries get used before the birds eat them. The Blackberry season has come early this year, so now is the perfect time for picking! Every month, Jenny Flynn, the head chef at Faithlegg House Hotel, joins Maria McCann on The Saturday Café for Food At Faithlegg. This week, Jenny is excited to share her delicious recipe for blackberry and lemon polenta cake. On the show they will discuss recipes that are perfect for the season, highlights local suppliers, and offers cooking tips. You can find all past recipes for Food at Faithlegg here.

Ingredients

225g soft butter
225g caster sugar
4 eggs whisked.
175g fine polenta
50g plain flour
11/2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp vanilla extract
Zest of 2 lemons
200g fresh or frozen blackberries

For the filling

100g cream cheese
1tbsp icing sugar (to sweeten the cheese)
Zest of ½ a lemon and a squeeze of juice to loosen it.
100ml of fresh cream whipped.
100g fresh blackberries

Method:

heat your oven to 190c and grease two sponge tins, line the base with grease-proof paper.
In a bowl mix the polenta, flour, and baking powder. In a mixer beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy, gradually add the eggs one at a time if the mixture starts to split add a tsp of flour and keep whisking. Add the vanilla and zest to the egg mixture whisking all the time.
fold in the dry ingredient to the egg mixture, I use a slotted spoon to keep as much air in the mixture as possible, divide the mixture into sponge tins and sprinkle with the blackberries, push the blackberries down into the cake, bake for about 30mins until risen and golden.
Remove from oven and leave in the tin for about 15mins and transfer onto a cooling rack,
While they are cooling
Beat the cheese, sugar, and lemon zest together, if it is too stiff add a touch of lemon juice, fold in the whipped cream and this is the frosting to hold your sponges together, spread onto one side of one sponge add more blackberries and sprinkle with icing sugar, top with the other half of the sponge.
For service dust with icing sugar

Enjoy!