I have to admit that when I first saw the recipe for this week, I turned up my nose...it sure didn't appeal to me at all. So I wasn't planning on participating. My husband had just gotten home Thursday, and we were busy having family time...but Monday night I had to run to the store to get milk, and decided that if I could find figs, I'd give it a try. Sure enough, there were the figs, so I grabbed the ricotta cheese and went home.
I have never bought or even eaten figs before so this was me taking a leap of faith....trying something new!I didn't have any fluted pans, so I just used a 10 inch springform pan.
When the cake was in the oven it really smelled delicious, much to my surprise! Even though I had read all the comments about it being too sweet and some people cutting out some sugar, I went ahead and followed the recipe..minus the butter on top. I have a sweet tooth, and decided that I'd decide if it were too sweet.
The texture threw me for a loop when I inserted the knife to check for doneness. It was more spongey than I was expecting. It probably isn't the most attractive cake due to using the springform pan, but I was happy it even turned out decent!
I wasn't even sure where to begin on decorating it...so I just sprinkled some powdered sugar on it and tossed a few figs on top for a 'garnish' and called it good. I added a dollop of whip cream on my first piece of polenta and ricotta cake. It tasted to me like a sweet cornbread. I didn't care for the figs, but liked how the Lite Whip Cream balanced out all the sweet flavors. My husband even had a bite and gave it a thumbs up. He was sleeping on the couch with our son when I woke him to try it, so I don't know if he was too tired to really give me an honost answer, or if he just said "Mmmm" so that I would leave him alone so he could go back to sleep.
Overall, I was amazed at the end result. I honostly will probably NOT make this again, but I'm proud of myself for trying it out!!!
