Polenta cake

Prep: 25 mins

Cook: 40 mins

Using polenta as the base of this cake offers a lovely texture not found with any other ingredient.

200g soft unsalted butter (plus some for greasing)

200g caster sugar

200g ground almonds

100g fine polenta

1 ½ tsp gluten free baking powder (or none at all)

3 large eggs

Zest of 2 lemons (save juice for syrup)

Syrup topping

Juice of 2 lemons

125g icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F / Gas mark 4.

Line the base of a 23cm spring form cake tin with baking parchment and grease its sides with butter.

In a bowl, beat the butter and sugar till pale and whipped.

Mix together the almonds, polenta and baking powder if using. (If you are not using baking powder, beat vigorously) and beat some of this into the butter-sugar mixture, followed by 1 egg, then alternate dry ingredients and eggs, beating all the while.

Mix in the lemon zest and scrape the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes.

Test the cake is done by using a skewer, it doesn’t need to be perfectly clean but more or less.

Remove from the oven to a wire cooling rack, but leave it in the tin.

In a small saucepan, boil together the lemon juice and icing sugar until dissolved.

Prick the top of the cake all over with a toothpick and pour the warm syrup over the cake, and leave to cool before taking it out of its tin.

Serves
16

Preparation Time
25 minutes

Cooking Time
40 minutes

Main ingredients
Dairy, Fruit, Eggs, Sugar, Grains

Recipe Type
Cakes & Baking

Special Info
Gluten free

Level of Difficulty
Moderately Easy