lemon polenta cake

Polenta (sometimes called fine cornmeal) gives this cake its yellow colour and soft texture

Swirly lemon drizzle fingers

butter

golden caster sugar

eggs

fine polenta cornmeal

self-raising flour

lemons

lemon curd

golden sugar

lemon

Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4 and make sure there’s a shelf ready in the middle of the oven. Butter a rectangular baking tray or small roasting tin, about 20cm x 30cm. Cut out a sheet of baking paper a bit larger than the tin, then push it in and smooth it out with your hands so it sticks to the butter. Snip into the corners with a pair of scissors to get the paper to lie neatly.

Put all the cake ingredients and a pinch of salt into a large bowl, then use electric beaters to beat until creamy and smooth. Scoop into the tin, then level the top. Spoon the lemon curd over the batter in thick stripes. Use the handle of the spoon to swirl the curd into the cake – not too much or you won’t see the swirls once it’s cooked. Bake for about 35 mins or until golden and risen. It should have shrunk away from the sides of the tin ever so slightly and feel springy. Don’t open the oven before 30 mins cooking is up.

Leave the cake in the tin for 10 mins or until just cool enough to handle. Carefully lift out of the tin and put it onto a cooling rack, sat over a tray or something similar to catch drips of drizzle. To make the drizzle, mix 4 tbsp sugar and the lemon juice together and spoon over the cake. Toss the lemon zest with the final 1 tbsp sugar and scatter over the top. Let the cake cool completely, then lift onto a board, peel away the sides of the baking paper and cut the cake into fingers. Will keep in an airtight tin for 3 days.

This simple, rustic Italian-style Lemon Polenta Cake recipe will be a keeper in your recipe file! It has a lovely crunch of cornmeal and lots of fresh lemon.

Easy Lemon Polenta Cake

polenta (or stone-ground cornmeal)

all-purpose flour

baking powder

fine sea salt

egg whites (1/4 cup)

sugar

olive oil oil

unsalted butter (softened)

½ cup whole milk plain yogurt or sour cream

lemon zest

lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (175 C) and place an oven rack in the center of the oven.

Line the bottom of an 8-inch cake pan with parchment paper to fit (see how-to video above) and lightly brush the bottom and sides of the pan with oil or cooking spray.

Whisk the cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.

Beat the eggs, egg whites and sugar in a heavy-duty stand mixer on medium-high speed 4-5 minutes, until pale and creamy. On low speed, mix in the oil. butter, yogurt, lemon zest and juice.

Stir in the dry ingredients until just blended. Pour the batter into the pan and bake 35 - 40 minutes, or until the top feels firm (not hard) and a toothpick inserted in the center of cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan 10 minutes before inverting onto a rack to cool - run a dull knife around the edge of the pan to loosen.

Sift powdered sugar over the cake and serve.

Amor Polenta cake is known in Italy simply as Amor polenta or Dolce Varese, from the name of the city where this dessert was born. This Italian dessert has a beautiful yellow color, characteristic of this cake, given by the use of polenta flour. This here is one of the many polenta recipes you can find in Italy. Like all traditional Italian recipes, there are different versions of polenta cake that Lombard families have handed down over the years, with very small differences in the doses of the ingredients. The key ingredients, according to Italian tradition, are polenta flour, but the finer version (in Italy it’s called Fioretto) and chopped almonds. It’s traditionally made in an almond cake loaf pan but the usual plum cake mold work fine too.

Amor Polenta Cake Recipe

g (4/5 cup) of all-purpose flour

120 g (1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon) of granulated sugar

80 g (1/2 cup) of fine polenta flour or cornmeal

g (1 stick) of unsalted butter

70 g (2,4 oz) of peeled almonds

vanilla bean

salt

icing sugar

In a bowl, beat together the softened butter, the eggs and sugar for about 5 minutes until pale and creamy. 

add the seeds of the vanilla bean and mix.

Add the baking powder and a pinch of fine salt to the flour then sift them with the help o a flour sieve.

add them to the bowl with the butter-eggs-sugar mixture and beat to combine.

finely chop the peeled almonds until you get a flour.

add the almond flour and the polenta flour. Mix everything very well to combine.

Grease and flour your cake loaf pan then pour the mixture into it. Level the batter with a spatula.

Bake in static oven at 170°C (240 F) for 40 minutes.

Sprinkle with icing sugar and enjoy cut in slices with a cup of tea or coffee.

Top 3 lemon polenta cake recipes from across the web

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Swirly lemon drizzle fingers

Easy Lemon Polenta Cake

Amor Polenta Cake Recipe

Top 3 lemon polenta cake recipes from across the web

The most viewed lemon polenta cake recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Swirly lemon drizzle fingers

Easy Lemon Polenta Cake

Amor Polenta Cake Recipe

The most viewed lemon polenta cake recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine