Rhubarb & Nectarine Polenta Cake

Let’s put some sunshine on a plate!

And let’s make it edible. And in cake form.

At this time of year the peach seems to come into its own. It is everywhere. Roasted peach this. Peach tea that. What about its sibling, the nectarine?

In my mind the nectarine is far superior to the peach. It tastes remarkably similar but without the fuzzy skin. Gah! The fuzzy skin. It’s sets my teeth on edge just thinking about biting into it. I can’t do it. I picked one up the other day and stroked it, and . . . just, no, okay, no. I mean, should you really be able to stroke a fruit?? I kind of look at people who bite through peach skin in the same way I do people who eat the skin of a kiwi fruit . . .

Actually, I retract that. Eating the skin of a kiwi fruit is just plain weird. It is a coarse hairy hair rather than a fuzzy fuzz hair. Doesn’t it get stuck in your teeth? Or velcro itself to your taste buds???

Enough about hairy fruit, let’s move on to rhubarb.

The plant in the garden is going strong and needs to be used, and what better way than laying it on a bed of cake. The nectarine is there to counteract the slightly sourness of the rhubarb.

The cake itself is a lovely sunny yellow from the polenta, which also adds a pleasant crunchy texture. It isn’t overly sweet either as I used my preferred sweetener, coconut sugar and a bit of agave. Soft light brown sugar can be used instead, which will make it ever so slightly sweeter.

I arranged my fruit in this pretty pattern, which is pleasing to the eye, but does mean that not everyone gets a bit of both fruit. Great if you are feeding people who don’t like one or the other, not so great if you want a bit of both, mixy-mix like. So, I have to be honest and say that next time round I would chop the fruit up and scatter it over the top in a jumble. Less geometric but more pick’n’mix.