Torta Polenta belongs to the culinary culture of Caorle, a small town in the province of Venice near Jesolo.
The peculiarity of this typical recipe lies in its name, since polenta does not appear among the ingredients. A real paradox that finds light in the fact that according to tradition, and just like polenta, both are presented on a cutting board. But that’s not all, the cake is also reminiscent of polenta in its aesthetic form.

Ingredients

For the sponge cake
6 eggs
6 tablespoons boiling water
250 gr. of sugar
300 gr. of “00” flour
1 sachet of baking powder

For the filling
1 litre of hot milk
1 glass of cold milk
1 vanilla bean
4 egg yolks
8 tablespoons of sugar
1 pinch of salt
¾ “00” flour
4 spoons of hazelnut cream
Alchermes liqueur
500 ml of cream

Process

Start preparing the sponge cake by separating the egg whites from the yolks and beating the yolks until stiff.
Add the sugar to the yolks and beat them with a whisk. Pour in the boiling water and continue to mix. Sift the flour together with the yeast and mix the mixture.
Add the beaten egg whites to the mixture and stir gently. Take a high baking tin, grease it with butter and flour it. Bake the sponge cake at 180° for about 30 minutes.
Prepare the cream. Heat the milk in a saucepan with the vanilla pod. Add the sugar to the 4 egg yolks and beat with a whisk. Pour in the glass of cold milk and the sifted flour together with the yolks.
Take the milk off the heat, remove the vanilla pod and pour in the mixture. Mix everything together until a smooth and homogeneous cream is obtained. Let it cool down.
Once cooled, divide the cream into two bowls and in one of them add the hazelnut cream.
Take the sponge cake out of the oven and leave it to cool. Cover a bowl with cling film, ideal for preparing the Zuccotto.
Cut the sponge cake into slices 1 cm thick. Leave the two tops of the sponge cake for last while we cover the inside of the bowl with all the other slices. Soak the sponge cake with the Alchermes (to taste) or with any other water you like. We create the first layer starting by pouring part of the white cream. Divide the layer of white cream from the hazelnut layer with the slices of sponge cake.
We continue alternating the layers until the bowl is full. Chill the Zuccotto in the refrigerator for a couple of hours, placing a weight on top, so that the bottom of the cake adheres well.
After two hours, turn the cake upside down on a wooden cutting board, so that it looks like a polenta and cover it with the whipped cream.
Grate the leftover sponge cake over the cake, so that it resembles polenta as much as possible.
And here is our Polenta Cake or Sweet Polenta!