Lemon & Thyme corn meal cake

Ok so this is something I wanted to try out for a long time. I have seen this recipe on TV show called The Taste. It’s one of Nigellas Classic Bakes. She does it with polenta however I was doing it on Sunday and my local Tesco did not have polenta so I swapped it for Corn Meal as she suggest it will also work. So what I like about this recipe is that it’s not very messy (2 bowls and 2 spoons) and that you don’t need to get your mixer out.

The original recipe is just plain lemon. I decided to make it a little more exciting by adding some thyme to the syrup. I know it sounds a bit strange as lemon and thyme is your usual chicken affair, however not so long time ago I have tried this lemon and thyme based cocktail and it turns out that the combination of the two also works outside your dinner plate!! So don’t ditch it before you try it as this cake makes a perfect dessert after heavy dinner.

The cake has a very light texture and it’s very moist thanks to the syrup and thyme adds extra edge to the depth of flavour.
Cake is also very cheap as there is nothing extravagant that goes to it.

So the recipe as per below:

Ingredients:

Cake:
200g of unsalted butter (my local Tesco £0,89 for 250g block)
200g of ground Almonds (my local Tesco £1.99 for 200g bag)
100g of Corn Meal (my local Tesco £0,79 for 500g bag)
Zest from 2 Lemons (my local Tesco £0,25 each)
3 large eggs (I had them already but I think I bought 6 for £0,99 in Lidl)
1.5 teaspoon of baking powder (I had it already but it’s something like £0.49 in Tesco)
200g of caster sugar (my local Tesco £0.89 for 500g bag)

Syrup:
Juice from 2 lemons
10 sprigs of Thyme (£0,79 for a bunch in Tesco)
100g of caster sugar

Method:

1. In reverse to what Nigellas recipe says we will have to start with the syrup first as we need to infuse it with thyme. So zest your Lemons first and leave it on the side for the cake. Snap thyme sprigs and place them into a small pan add sugar and freshly squeezed lemon juice. Leave on a side to infuse.

2. Line the base of a 23cm / 9inch springform cake tin with baking parchment and grease its sides lightly with butter.

3. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4/ 350°F.

4. Place soft butter into the mixing bowl and add 200g of sugar. Mix everything together with a wooden spoon until pale and well combined.

5. Mix together ground almonds, corn meal and baking powder in a separate bowl. Once combined add 1/3 to the butter mixture followed by one egg. Once combined add more dry mix and another egg until you have only one well combined mixture. Fold in lemon zest.

6. Scrape the cake mix into the earlier prepared cake tin and bake for 40 minutes. Check with a wooden skewer. It will come almost clean when the cake is ready.

7. While your cake is in the oven place your syrup pan on a medium heat and bring it to boil. Then leave on a side to cool down. Remove thyme just before pouring on to the cake.

8. Once your cake is baked remove from the oven but leave in the tin. Make small holes with the skewer all around its top. Then gently pour the syrup spoonful at the time starting from the edge of the cake moving to the centre.

9. Leave to cool down in its tin and decorate with thyme before serving.

ENJOY!!!!