This weekend we've been busy making lots of fall-inspired recipes - pumpkin spiced granola, butternut squash, and this delicious apple polenta cake. We don't bake often, but when this recipe came along for the food matters project it sounded too good (and healthy) not to make. Bittman's recipe called for dried apricots, which we decided to sub out for fresh apples (this time of year they are just perfect for baking). It turns out that this was a wonderful idea.
We really enjoyed the lightness and moisture that the polenta provided in this dessert while using olive oil instead of butter added a unique flavor which paired well with the other light flavors (not to mention making it healthier). We think that using apples was a great addition and because we microwaved them for 3 minutes before mixing into the cake, they were perfectly soft and sweet. And almost as important as how it tasted, it was easy and quick to make.
This cake satisfies your sweet tooth without being heavy or too rich. That said, next time we are thinking of turning this into an upside-down cake by coating the bottom of the dish with an apple and caramel sauce (stay tuned!).
You can find the complete recipe at Prariesummers and later on this fall we'll post our experiments with an apple caramel sauce.
