- Hey guys, today's video is part of
a special collaboration
with Sonia's Travels,
a wonderful channel here on YouTube.
If you don't all ready
know of Sonia's channel,
I encourage you to head on over there
and check it out and subscribe.
And there you will find all
kinds of great travel tips
to make your summer vacations a success.
This collaboration is
being sponsored by P.A.N.,
now if you're not familiar with P.A.N.,
you're in for a treat.
'Cause it is a beautiful corn meal product
that you can use in so many
different international recipes.
I really love this corn
mean because of the texture.
It's so light and delicate
and perfect for baking.
So here's the challenge,
for this co-lab I have
been tagged by Monique
of Divas Can Cook to come up with a recipe
using P.A.N. inspired by
one of Sonia's Travels.
And for me that's easy, I pick Italy.
Next to France Italy is one
of my favorite destinations
to travel to.
It might be because I'm half Italian,
it might also be because I
have some wonderful memories
of trips that I've taken
there with family and friends.
And one of my favorite things
to do while I'm in Italy
is dive into a piece
of polenta almond cake
with homemade whipped cream.
It is one of my most
favorite Italian desserts
and I'm gonna show you
how you can recreate
this dessert at home using P.A.N.
Now one of the things
I love about this cake
is it's so quick and
comes together in a snap.
So it's a perfect dessert for a week night
or if you have last minute guests.
And you don't even need
any fancy equipment.
All we're gonna use is a bowl and a whisk.
So we're first gonna add
3/4 cup of melted butter
and 1/4 cup of vegetable oil.
I really love the combination
of the butter and the oil.
By mixing those fats we're
going to get a really moist cake
that's gonna have a lot of flavor.
To that we're gonna add
two eggs and two egg yolks.
The egg yolks are gonna give
our cake a wonderful richness.
And we're also gonna add a cup of sugar.
A 1/4 cup of water
and a teaspoon and 1/2 of almond extract.
That's going to give our cake
a wonderful almond flavor.
And then we're just gonna
whisk that up and set it aside.
Then in a smaller bowl
we're going to combine
our dry ingredients.
So we're gonna add a 1/2 a cup of P.A.N.
Now traditionally this style
cake is made with polenta.
Now if you've ever tried
baking with polenta,
you know how gritty it can be.
And that's why I really
love to use the P.A.N.
in this instance because it's a lot finer
and will lead to a much
more delicate texture.
Then to that we're also gonna
add 1/2 a cup of brown almonds
and this is gonna create
a wonderful nuttiness
to our texture.
And then finally we're
also gonna add a cup
of all purpose flour.
Add two teaspoons of baking powder.
And one teaspoon of salt.
We can go ahead and just
whisk that up together
until everything's nice and combined.
Then we're gonna add this dry mixture
to our wet mixture,
stirring gently in thirds
just until everything's combined.
And there you have it,
your cake batter is done.
How easy was that, right?
Now we're gonna pour our
batter into the cake pan
that has been sprayed with
some non-stick baking spray.
Then we are going to
pop our cake in the oven
at 350 degrees Fahrenheit
for just about 25 minutes.
You'll know that it's done
when the cake starts to rise up
and become nice and golden brown.
Then once your cake is
done you want to allow it
to cool completely before
you take it out of the pan.
Meanwhile we can prepare our
orange scented whipped cream.
So one of the things I
love about Italian baking
is that combination
between almond and orange.
I think the Italians have really perfected
this flavor combination.
So all we are going to do is whip together
two cups of heavy cream, two
tablespoons of powdered sugar,
1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla
and one tablespoon of fresh orange zest.
Now hold onto that orange
because we are also gonna use it
for this recipe as well for
the garnish on top of our cake.
You're just gonna whip your cream together
until soft peaks form.
Then we go ahead and transfer it to a bowl
and pop it in the fridge
until you're ready to serve.
Once your cake is completely cooled,
you're going to take a
knife and just run it
all the way around the
perimeter of the cake pan.
Making sure that it's loosened up a bit.
And here comes the fun part,
we are going to flip it out of its tin.
And the reason we're going to do that
is it's going to create a
really beautiful presentation.
So go ahead and take your
cake stand that you plan
to serve the cake on, put
it on top of the cake pan
and in one fluid motion give it a flip.
And you'll see when you
release that cake pan
you will have a beautifully shaped cake.
Then you're gonna dust the
whole thing with powdered sugar
and you're good to go.
So now the final step is just
getting our orange segments
nice and cut.
And this is a really easy
technique if you've never done it.
Go ahead and take an orange
and slice both ends off of it.
That will give you a
nice sturdy work surface.
Then you're gonna take your
knife and slice off the peel,
just moving your orange
around your work surface
as you cut off each side.
Then you're gonna take
the orange in your hand
and you will see the orange
segments will be separated
by these little membranes.
And you wanna go in there with your knife
and just cut on either
side of the membrane.
And then you will release
your orange segment.
And it's the easiest thing in the world.
You just go ahead and continue all the way
around your orange until all
your orange segments are cut.
And don't worry if they're not perfect,
sometimes it does become
a bit of a juicy mess.
But that's okay because the way that
we are going to use these as a garnish,
no one's ever gonna know the difference.
Then when it comes time
to serve your cake,
you're going to cut into it
and slice off a nice wedge.
And once you cut into it you
will see the beautiful texture
and what a perfect piece
of cake you end up getting.
And a lot of that is
credit to our three way
dry ingredient combo
between the corn meal,
the almonds and the flour.
It really does create
such a wonderful texture.
Gives you that perfect slice of cake.
Then we're gonna place some
of our orange segments on top.
And then finish with a dollop
of our orange scented whipped cream.
I love this recipe because
it is so quick and easy
to put together using all
of your pantry staples.
And it is so reminiscent for me of those
Italian almond polenta
cakes that I really love
to enjoy while I'm in Italy.
You will find that the
texture is light and delicate
and it's perfect for a baby
shower or bridal shower
or any springtime occasion.
Okay, so the collaboration continues
and I am now going to tag
Catherine of Weelicious
to see what kind of recipes
she can come up with
using P.A.N. inspired by Sonia's Travels.
I hope you guys will check that out
and I will see you back here next week
for another delicious recipe.
Until then, bye.
(vocalizing)
