Chocolate Polenta Cake with Coffee Mascarpone

Indulge in this decadent, wonderfully presented chocolate polenta cake with a smooth coffee mascarpone on top. The perfect cake for celebration or feeing a crowd!

Serves 8 - 10

1 cup water
¼ tsp Sal de Añana Spring Salt
¼ cup La Grande Ruota yellow quick cook polenta
125g Lewis Road Creamery butter, softened
180g Valrhona Manjari chocolate feves
1 tsp Heilala vanilla bean paste
4 large free-range eggs
½ cup caster sugar

To serve:
250g Zany Zeus mascarpone
2 Tbsp strong espresso coffee
2 Tbsp icing sugar
50g Valrhona Manjari chocolate, shaved
Can Bech preserved figs, to serve

Preheat oven to 160°C fan bake. Grease a 22cm springform cake tin and line the base with baking paper. Combine water, salt and polenta in a pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring continuously for 3-4 minutes until mixture comes to the boil. Reduce heat to low and cook very gently for 2-3 minutes until thick. Remove from the heat. Add the butter, chocolate and vanilla; stir until melted then transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool to room temperature.

Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl and whisk for a minute to loosen. Add the sugar and whisk until thick and pale. Fold into the chocolate mixture.

Pour batter into prepared tin. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until set in the middle. Cool completely in the tin set on a wire rack before removing from the tin.

Combine the mascarpone, espresso and icing sugar and pile on top of the cake. Decorate with shaved chocolate. Serve with figs on the side.

Recipe by Julie Le Clerc