I made this recipe for my wonderful mother-in-law while we were living in their home. Cathy is celiac, and her daughter, my sister-in-law, is gluten intolerant, so a lot of cakes and biccies and things are out of the question. I was dubious of how this would turn out, but I was pleasantly surprised. It’s moist and tart raspberries cut through the rich lemon flavour – a real spring summer afternoon tea and cake treat.
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Lemon and Raspberry Polenta Cake
Description
This moist polenta cake is a perfect gluten-free treat. The tart raspberries cut through to the rich lemon flavor for a refreshing tea cake. Adapted from a recipe by Nigella Lawson
Ingredients
Scale
- 220g unsalted butter, soft and cubed
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 1 1/4 cup almond meal
- 3/4 cup of polenta (cornmeal)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of gluten free baking powder
- 3 large free-range eggs
- zest of two large lemons
- 1 cup of frozen or fresh raspberries
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 180*C
- Line the base of a 23cm / 9inch springform cake tin with baking paper and give a quick spray of non-stick oil around the edges.
- Cream the butter and sugar until soft and pale.
- In a seperate bowl, combine the almond meal, polenta and baking powder. Mix 1/4 of this into the creamed butter sugar mixture.
- Follow this by adding one egg, then another 1/4 of the dry mixture. Alternate dry ingredients and eggs beating the whole time until all the mixture is combined.
- Stir in the lemon zest and fold through the raspberries.
- Pour the mixture into your prepared cake tin and bake in the oven for 40-50minutes.
- Test with a dry skewer; if it comes out clean, it’s ready.. if not, pop it back into the oven for another 10minutes.
- Allow the cake to cool in the tin before serving.
- Serve with fresh whipped vanilla cream.
- Category: Baking
- Cuisine: Gluten-Free
Just tasted this polenta cake and it does have a great taste. However the cake is very flat only about an inch in depth. No ingredients forgotten. I would use an 8 inch tin next time to give it more height. Thanks for all your replies and help
Yes, you are 100% correct Bernie. In a 9-inch pan, the batter spreads out and bakes up to about an inch – inch and a half tall. It’s meant to be more of a rustic, lower-profile cake rather than a lofty sponge. Nothing sounds like it went wrong on your end.
Using an 8-inch tin next time is a good move if you’d prefer more height. Just keep an eye on the bake time; it may need a few extra minutes in the oven.
How many slices do you get from the polenta cake
Good question Bernie!
As written (baked in a standard 9-inch round pan), you’ll get 8 generous slices.
If you cut it a bit slimmer (more coffee-cake style) you can easily get 10 to 12 slices, especially since it’s fairly rich and holds together well thanks to the polenta.
Thank you…… wondering why this cake does not have any syrup added to it like other polenta cakes seem to have
Great question! This version skips the syrup. The moisture comes from the
olive oilbutter, eggs, and the raspberries baked into the batter, so it’s designed to be tender on its own rather than soaked afterward. If you prefer that syrup-soaked finish, you can absolutely brush the warm cake with a simple lemon syrup (equal parts lemon juice and sugar, warmed just until dissolved). It won’t hurt the structure at all, it’ll just push it in a slightly more dessert-forward direction.Thanks again for your reply to me but when you say olive oil in your reply do you mean the butter ?
Yes, good catch. I had a little mind-glitch as I was writing the response. Sorry!
Really awesome recipe, turned out delicious!
Love love this recipe thank you xx
Hi this looks delicious- would it work with oil instead of butter. I avoid butter due to the high saturated fat cont t. Many thanks