Summer has flown by and I feel like I’m trying to squeeze in all the recipes I’ve been dreaming about over the last couple of months but haven’t quite gotten around to making. I’m (obviously) still in quite the blueberry phase, we’ve been picking pounds and pounds of them weekly and I’m using them in everything, knowing this sweet blueberry season is coming to an end. While I write this the ac is blasting and the sky is clear and and bright, but the sun is sitting just a little lower in the sky and setting earlier each day. Tiny whispers of autumn.
We’ve been picking blueberries by the pound and I picked up a lovely box of stone fruit from Collins Family Orchards, a local, organic (4th generation!) Washington farm. I’ve been thinking up so many ways to use it, but finally landed on this polenta bundt cake. It’s really a celebration of all things late-summer: corn, stone fruit, and the last of the blueberry harvest. I sprinkled mine with chamomile we have growing wild in the old pasture, but you can use any edible flowers you like. I hope you love it.
- cake
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons (56 grams) corn flour
- ½ cup (60 grams) cornmeal
- 1½ cups (180 grams) gluten-free all purpose flour, such as Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1½ cups nectarine, cut into ½ inch pieces (from about 2 nectarines)
- 1 cup blueberries
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- a pinch of lemon zest
- 8 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
- 4 eggs
glaze- ¼ cup honey
- 11/4 cup powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon flaky salt, or to taste
- 1 tbsp milk, as needed
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a 6 cup capacity bundt pan, dust with flour and tap out the excess.
- Whisk together the corn flour, cornmeal, gf all-purpose flour, salt, xanthan gum, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium sized bowl.
- In a separate bowl, combine the nectarines, blueberries, and one tablespoon of the flour blend. Gently mix until the fruit is coated. This will help keep the fruit from sinking.
- In a small bowl, mix the buttermilk, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Set aside.
- Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated.
- Beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, alternate adding the wet and dry ingredients until incorporated.
- Gently stir in the fruit, then bake for 20 minutes. Rotate the pan in the oven, then continue baking for about 15 minutes more, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Place on a cooling rack and let it cool for about 10 minutes. Gently run a knife around the edges of the pan (don't forget the center!) and turn out onto the rack or your serving plate to cool completely.
- For the glaze, combine all ingredients in a small bowl and blend well. I sprinkled mine with wild chamomile, but feel free to use anything lovely you have around. Simple poppy seeds would be delicious, too.
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