Polenta cake for someone who thinks that they do not like polenta

Someone I know said they don't like polenta. They have obviously never had nice gooey polenta with parmesan cheese and mushroom ragu. They had never had this cake either. Now I think they like polenta!

This cake seems weird. But it is delicious.

This is a true Italian Cake. If you like Italian cakes you will like this. Wow.

It is a kind of cup of tea cake.

Or I guess dessert cake if you add a bit of cream/ice cream or some nice poached fruit would be amazing.

The mixture is super sloppy when you put it in the tin. Don't worry at all. It will thicken up when it is cooked and the pine nuts will float to the top and it'll go golden and delicious.

40g (1/3 cup) sultanas

2 tbsp brandy

225g ricotta cheese

250g caster sugar

225g polenta

pinch of grated nutmeg

grated zest of one lemon

seeds from one vanilla bean (or 1/4 tsp extract)

1 generous tbsp butter

2 tbsp pine nuts

Icing sugar, for sifting

Soak the sultanas in the brandy with enough water to just cover them. Leave for 30 minutes. Drain. Dry well on paper towels. Discard brandy (or drink it).

Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease and line the base of a 25cm springform cake tin

Put the ricotta in a large bowl. Add 440mL of cold water. Mix until smooth. Add the sugar and mix until dissolved. Add the polenta, nutmeg, lemon zest, vanilla and sultanas and mix until smooth.

Pour into the prepared tin. Dot the surface with butter and sprinkle with pine nuts. (At this stage I was sure this cake was going to be a complete failure. It was completely liquid and the butter and pine nuts had disappeared beneath the waves of polenta. Don't worry if yours is like this.)

Put the tin on a baking tray to catch drips. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours or until golden and set.

Serve warm or cold, dusted with icing sugar. Accompany with whipped cream and poached fruit.