Please allow me this bright and promising Monday morning to keep it one hundred percent real with you. While this gluten free cake was buttery, nutty, bright with the flavor of lemon and perfectly sweet, the truth is, it ended up all over my floor. Well… ok, bits on the floor, chunks on the counter, and pieces in my dirty sink. Basically, this cake landed everywhere except the cake plate where I wanted it.
I salvaged a few if the larger pieces to mock up a pretty picture for you. For a few moments I thought I might not even tell you about my cake accident. But… see, my cake didn’t just land on the floor because I’m clumsy, but because I was taking baking liberties that I shouldn’t have. Fact.
This cake taught me a small lesson about baking pan choices and cooking times. It also helped me get my cake dropping out of the way for the next several months. I only drop a cake every three months or so. I feels good to be free and clear for a few months to come.
Here’s what you should know about this cake. The crumb is held together with butter, almond flour and eggs. While the cake is full of great flavor, it’s a bit crumbly. To best work with the crumb of this cake, I think it would be best baked in mini loaf pans, or mini bundt pans, or those long and skinny loaf pans (6×2 1/2-inches) if you have them. Cupcakes also worked out well, baking for 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges were nice and brown. Regular sized, larger loaf pans will most likely create a cake that is sunken in the middle. Bundt pans.. well that’s how I dropped my cake on the floor… no good.
When it comes to baking this beauty, you might be surprised when I say: longer is better. We’re not looking for a lightly colored American style cake here. We’re looking for a French brown: a baked good left to bake until the sides are beautifully dark brown. I think the longer cooking time will help the crumb stay together better.
I’m thinking my mistakes will help you create a better cake. Go on… bake away!
Gluten Free Lemon, Almond and Polenta Cake
from Breakfast Lunch Tea, Rose Bakery
2 1/4 cups unsalted butter, softened plus extra for greasing pans
2 1/4 cups sugar
grated zest of four lemons
juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 eggs
5 1/2 cups ground almonds
2 cups polenta
1/2 cup rice or corn flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
powdered sugar for dusting
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Butter eight mini bread tins and line the bottoms with parchment paper, or line 3 cupcake pans with foil cupcake liners.
Measure out the sugar and lemon zest. With the back of a spoon or a plastic bench knife, rub the lemon zest into the sugar, creating a lemony and fragrant sugar. Beat the butter and sugar until very light and creamy. Add the lemon juice and the vanilla extract. Add the eggs, one by one, beating well after each addition.
Mix together the flour, ground almonds, polenta, rice or corn flour, baking powder and salt and fold into the butter mixture.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared tins and bake for 35-40 minutes (20-25 minutes for cupcakes) or until a knife inserted in the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and cool the cakes in their tins before taking them out.
Sift some powdered sugar over the cooled cakes for decoration.
Maria
I can’t wait to try this out. Thank you for sharing.
Angela
Joy, you are the person to ask. You are adventurous. I would like to try lemon polenta cake starting with real corn. I followed a newspaper recipe that made polenta by grating corn on cob and mixing it with water and butter — I made it like risotta/grits by slowly adding more water as it got dry and finished with butter. Then, borrowing from you, I added an egg, some flour (not enough), a dollop of greek yogurt. It came out soft, kind of like the inside of a tamale.
Would you mind advising me on how to balance the cake ingredients when I make polenta using ears of corn. (It is a little wet.) I’ll take your best guess and tell you how it comes out., if you are willing.
Thanks for your time,
Angela (harvellad@gmail.com)
Martha
Made this cake with my mom for Christmas and we loved it! Halved the recipe and added 1/2 teaspoon Xanthum Gum which held it together beautifully! Thanks for the recipe.
Carla @ Gluten Free Recipe Box
This cake looks divine! – so moist! One question, though: Do you use 5 cups of almonds, and then grind them, or do you use 5 cups of ground almond meal? It appears to be the latter, but just checking. Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful recipe!
michele
fyi for anyone concerned about the “falling apart” issue Joy the Baker encountered — if those are the almonds she used, that was part of the problem. the ground almonds necessary for this recipe are almond flour — that is, finely ground in a food processor (chopping by hand would not do it) just prior to the butter stage. you can also buy almond flour (but make sure it is very fine, not just chopped almonds passing for almond flour!). nuts this coarse will not bake into a cohesive cake, although you can add coarser nut for flavor, preferably toasted.
Rita
I’m wondering if the cake would hold together better with the addition of 1/2 t. of zanthum gum. It’s what we celiacs add to all baked goods to help them hold together when there is no gluten.
mbt on sale
that is very kind of you to do this for us, thanks a lot.
Jennifer
Is polenta the same as cornmeal? What do I look for in the store? Box, bulk, etc.
Thank you!
terri
Isn’t this how trifle was invented?
heidileon
well, Dear Joy, I will try out this recipe in the following days, just need to find some polenta in the area..(update I live in China, but mei you bu ke neng; or nothing is impossible).
I’ll tell you my experience when I’ll make it.
hugs
emilyn
Go G Free! I have celiac disease and have some experience with g free baking and just a word: it is always crumbly :) wasn’t you – it’s the recipe!