Dolce di Polenta

My next challenge dish, dolce di polenta, or cornmeal cake, comes from The Fine Art of Italian Cooking by Giuliano Bugialli.

Also in the list of contenders from this book were Uova alla Fiorentina (Eggs Florentine), Pollo alla Cacciatora (Hunter-Style Chicken), and Peposo (Peppery Beef Stew). No real reason, but the cake won.

I've made cornmeal cakes before, but this one was different, as it included saffron and white wine, and melted butter instead of the olive oil I'm used to.

The instructions said to bake it at 375 for 1 hour and 20 minutes. That seemed like a lot of baking. So I didn't set a timer or look at the clock. I have no idea how long I baked it. I pulled it out when top was lightly browned, and the edges were darkly browned. After removing it from the baking pan, I discovered that I overbaked - there were little blackened areas on the bottom of the cake.

I deviated from the recipe (which I didn't want to do for any of my challenge dishes, but, whatever), by omitting the 1/2 cup of powdered sugar dusted over the top of the cake. I didn't want to taste pure sugar, I wanted to taste the cake.

The moment of tasting arrived - Hubby said "Decent. It reminds me of...........I don't know what it reminds me of." But he ate the whole piece he cut. "Not bad at all. I like it." And went back for a 2nd piece.

And you know what? He's right. I can't expand on his comments. It reminds me of something. It's not bad.

And it is better the 2nd day.