Sbrisolona cake with cream & strawberries

Ok I cheated, I baked an Italian cake that really isn’t a cake but a crumble masquerade as a cake but still, this is nevertheless delicious and it shows what more can you do out of the ordinary with a griddle (if the situation needs it)!

This traditional easy cake from Lombardy (Northen Italy) is delicious eaten on its own with a little dust of icing sugar and it keeps well for days in an airtight container. If you want to go a step further and transform it into a dessert, serve it crumbled into shards with a scoop of fresh cream and fresh strawberries and basil (and lemon zest with a pinch of salt), your friends will be surely impressed.

Serves: 6 pp // Prep time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 250 gr of fresh strawberries

• 1 lemon, unwaxed

• 1 sprig of fresh basil

• 400 gr of whipped cream (sweetened or vanilla flavoured)

• Sea salt flakes to garnish

• Icing sugar to dust

For the cake

• 200 gr of plain flour

• 200 gr of polenta flour

• 150 gr of almonds finely chopped

• 50 gr of almonds in chunks

• 200 gr of unsalted butter

• 170 gr of sugar

• 2 egg yolks

• 1 lemon

• 1 pinch of salt

Method

Start with the cake. Preheat the Onyx 2 griddle on medium heat until the cooking chambers with the lid close reaches 200 degrees.

In a bowl combine the sifted flour with the polenta, the almonds, the sugar, the yolks, the salt, the lemon zest and the butter. Now pinch it and mix by hands until you have a crumbly dough. 

Fold a cake tin (26cm) with parchment and spread the dough onto it without pressing too hard but simply level it with your hands.

Now quickly open the griddle, place a rack onto it and place the cake on top of the rack. Close the lid immediately and reduce the heat to the minimum. Keep a close eye on the thermometer as you don’t want the temperature to exceed 180 degrees. The rack will avoid direct contact of the cake with the griddle prevent it from burning on the bottom while being pale on top.

Cook for about 30/40 minutes or until golden brown all around. Remove from the griddle and let it cool until room temperature. Once cold, remove from the tin and dust with icing sure.

Serve on its own or with fresh strawberries, cream, basil leaves, lemon zest and a little pinch of salt.