Spring has arrived in Georgia with the sun shining, temperatures soaring and trees bursting into blossom. However, the handful of farmers markets that open year round are still dominated by root vegetables and winter greens, and it will be a few weeks until our CSA box starts again, so our day to day eating is still heavily influenced by produce we preserved last summer and whatever is to hand in our store cupboard.

Two things we are never short of are grits and cornmeal, which are regular features in our CSA box. Stone ground at the farm from their own organically grown corn they are great but we sometimes need to find innovative ways to work our way through them. This moist, delicious cake came about after we had picked up a huge bag of limes for just $2.99 at Buford Highway Farmers Market, and is inspired by this citrus and polenta cake recipe from the wonderful Nigel Slater.

Lime Syrup Cake with Stoneground Cornmeal and Almonds

8oz unsalted butter

8oz cane sugar crystals (or granulated sugar)

4oz blanched almonds

3 eggs

4oz ground almonds

5oz cornmeal

1 tsp baking powder

Zest and juice of 2 limes

For the syrup:-

Zest and juice of 2 limes

4oz cane sugar crystals (or granulated sugar)

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Beat together the butter and the sugar.

Lightly beat the eggs, and then slowly mix with the creamed butter and sugar.

Chop the blanched almonds finely and then add those and the ground almonds to the mixture.

Stir the cornmeal and baking powder together and add those to the mixture, then stir in the lime zest and juice.

Spoon the mixture into an 8″ loose bottomed cake tin lined with baking parchment. As some of my cakes were destined to be given away I used three 7″x2.5″ oven safe paper baking pans.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes and then reduce the heat to 325F and cook for a further 30 minutes.

For the syrup take the zest and juice of two limes and add water to make it up to 1 cup of liquid. Add the sugar, and then bring to a boil and simmer until it has reduced to around 0.75 of a cup.

Make holes in the cake with a fork or skewer and then pour over the syrup, letting it soak in, then allow the cake to cool before enjoying.