lemon, polenta and almond passover cake

… on Sunday the 10th May I will be taking part in the Bold is Beautiful march in central London.  Bold is Beautiful is the new philanthropic campaign by the wonderful people at Benefit Cosmetics.

Founded in 1976, their philosophy has always been that women are their most beautiful when they feel strong and confident. With the launch of the Bold is Beautiful project, they are spreading that philosophy beyond the beauty counter.  Throughout May if you go for a Brow Wax at any Benefit counter in the world 100% of Benefit’s profits of the Brow Wax will go to charities supporting women and girls such as the brilliant Look Good Feel Better and the outstanding Refuge… as many of my regular readers will know The Persuaders has a close relationship with Benefit Cosmetics so The Viking and I are proud to help promote this brilliant endeavour…

…the march in London is the official launch of this new campaign.  We’ll be marching from Cavendish Square through Marble Arch and Wellington Arch and then up into Soho and down Carnaby Street finishing up back at Cavendish Square.  There will be much frivolity along the route with mini-make-overs, sing-a-longs and even a marching band… we start at 10am so do come and join us if you can.  You can apply for a place and download all the information you need here on the Bold is Beautiful website

lemon, polenta and almond passover cake
with all the over-exuberance of Easter what with the chocolate and the bunnies and the simnel cake it’s easy to forget that we’re also celebrating passover… passover is the Spring festival for those of the Jewish persuasion which celebrates the Jewish slaves escape from the pharaohs in Egypt… it’s the story with Moses and the parting of the Red Sea and the story that there was no time to allow the bread to rise in time for their escape and so un-levened bread is served during passover to commemorate this.  It’s not just un-levened bread that we make, there’s actually a whole industry grown up around the creation of products that don’t contain yeast or any rising agents.  It’s actually a coeliac’s dream as there’s no wheat flours allowed.  It means that there’s a whole special section of baking that has developed over the years to create delicious cakes and treats… the most passover popular cake is an almond chocolate cake that I have made on this blog before but this lemon and polenta cake is a little fresher and to be honest i’ve pretty much had my fill of chocolate recently…

this recipe is an adaptation of the one in Nigella’s How to be a Domestic Goddess.

for the cake
200g soft unsalted butter
200g caster sugar
200g ground almonds
100g fine polenta
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
3 large free-range eggs
zest of 2 lemons (save juice for syrup)