Polenta Coffee Cake

Some days just require cake. And no, I'm not even talking about this one special day once a year in someone's life where you can smash your face with all (ALL) the cake you get your hands on and end up in bed with a total sugar shock in the end... No, I'm talking about those wonderful weekends when all the weather has got in mind is soaking the nature with rain and you can decide to make a cozy home-and-pjs-all-day day.



This is what was going on here and to make staying at home even more reasonable a sore throat came along - because being sick in the middle of the exam period, who cares?
So rainy weather and flu symptoms call for hot beverages, a lot of them. But because the rest of the family was feeling really well and active they requested cake. And not just any cake: an especially light yet sinful one with crumbs and perfect to serve with a huge latte was what my sister begged me for. So I thought (okay, not really, it literally took me about 2 seconds to come up with this cake idea), turned out the ingredients, mixed and an hour later we got to sit down with coffee and a Polenta Coffee Cake with some (not so) optional Cinnamon Streusel - total comfort when still a little warm and without most of the guilt.





I'm still a little sick right know, so my brain's all like blaaaaaaaaah which is why I'll stop at this point with stories about my daily life and just let you devour into the pictures and then -of course - let you have some cake! Have a nice (and hopefully not that rainy and sick) weekend everyone!

Polenta Coffee Cake
- makes one 9"inch cake
For the crumb:
- 3/4 cup and 1 Tbsp /100g flour (I used whole wheat)
- 1/4 cup and 1 Tbsp/66g butter
- 1/8 cup/ 30g brown sugar
- 1 and 1/2 tsp cinnamon

For the cake:
- 1 and 1/3 cups / 160g whole wheat or all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup/60g polenta
- 1/2 cup minus 1 Tbsp/ 100g sugar
- 1 Tbsp honey
- optional: beans from one vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp vinegar
- 1/3 cup / 75g unsweetened applesauce
- 1/3 cup/ 75 ml milk
- 1 cup/ 240 ml water

1. Preheat your oven to 175 °C/350 °F.
2. Make the crumb: Work together flour, cinnamon, butter and sugar until a dough forms. Tear apart or work it into a crumble with a fork, set aside.
3. Make the cake batter: In a medium sized bowl mix together the polenta, the flour, the sugar, the honey, the vanilla, baking powder and soda and the salt. Now add vinegar, applesauce, milk and water on top and stir together until just combined.
4. Grease or line your cake tin with parchment paper. Pour the batter inside, add the crumb on top and bake for 40-60 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
5. Take the cake out, let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove and let sit for further cooling. Cake freezes easily or even tastes better the next day. Enjoy!