Lemon Polenta Cake

Although it's technically springtime and we've seen some signs of sunshine in recent days, today it's grey and windy here in south-west London and we need to bring a little bit of sunshine into our home! A couple of friends recommended I try Nigella's Lemon Polenta Cake - although to date on the blog I've been keen to work through different bakers (and have already featured a Nigella recipe) but am making an exception here as both waxed lyrical about this one. And then yesterday Nigella posted a Regram of this very same cake but suggesting that the butter could be replaced with olive oil to make a completely gluten-free and dairy-free which sealed the fate of this bake and here it is.

It's a very light cake and the real magic is the infusion of lemon syrup which soaks into the cake post-baking. The original recipe I looked at contained 200g butter, but as I mentioned, Nigella yesterday posted on Instagram suggesting that this could be replaced with 150ml light olive oil so I thought I'd make this switch. Although Nigella suggests baking for 40 mins, I checked mine after 35 mins and it was very much done by then so I'd keep an eye on it from 30 mins onwards.

I also read a few comments from people that their cake tended to drop in the middle when it comes out of the oven and this is to be expected due to the lack of gluten. However I found that mine didn't drop and kept good form - until I decided that I couldn't wait for it to be completely cool before removing it from the tin and then I put it on a non-flat plate and it did drop a little! But I can assure you it didn't affect the taste :) I love the yellow sun-shine colour of the inside and it's super-moist from all of the lemon syrup, but remains lovely and light, whilst the polenta adds a slight grittiness which gives it some added texture. This would be a great cake for afternoon tea or lunch with friends.

Lemon Polenta Cake

Ingredients

• 150ML LIGHT OLIVE OIL (YOU CAN USE 200G UNSALTED BUTTER AT ROOM TEMP IF YOU PREFER) 
• 200G CASTER SUGAR
• 200G GROUND ALMONDS
• 100G POLENTA
• 1 ½ TSP BAKING POWDER (GLUTEN-FREE IF REQUIRED)
• 3 LARGE EGGS
• 2 LEMONS (ZEST FOR CAKE BATTER & JUICE FOR SYRUP)
• 125G ICING SUGAR

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees
2. Line the base of an 8 inch spring form cake tin with baking paper and grease the sides with butter
3. Put the olive oil and sugar into a mixer and beat together until light brown
4. In a separate bowl, mix the almonds, polenta and baking powder
5. Add a third of this to the mixer and beat until well-mixed then add 1 egg
6. Repeat twice, ending with the final egg
7. Add the lemon zest and beat until well-mixed
8. Scrape the batter into the prepared baking tin
9. Cook in the oven for around 35 mins until a skewer comes out clean-ish and the edges have shrunk away from the sides of the tin. My cake was well set when it came out of the oven but the middle may wobble slightly and that's okay. Leave the cake to cool on the side whilst you make the syrup
10. Boil the lemon juice and icing sugar in a small saucepan until the icing sugar has dissolved
11. Make little holes across the top of the cake with a cocktail stick and then pour the syrup all over the top - you may need to do this in bursts waiting for the syrup to sink in before you add more
12. Leave to cool before taking it out of its tin. And enjoy!

Chocolate Olive Oil & Almond Cake

It's been a crazy week. I haven't had much time for baking and have mostly been running around doing back to back errands. We're ending it with an impromptu visit from my parents and there was a definite need for something rich and chocolatey this afternoon! This is Nigella's recipe for Chocolate Olive Oil & Almond Cake and is both gluten and dairy free - and I can assure you that the lack of either of these does not compromise the taste of this lovely little cake! A couple of changes I might try next time would be to exchange the almond meal for plain flour (needed for anyone with a nut allergy), add instant espresso in place of the vanilla or use coconut sugar in place of the regular white sugar. 

I had a slice about 15 mins out of the oven and just warm, it was seriously delicious and would only be improved with a dash of vanilla ice-cream, I think. There are lots of flourless chocolate cake recipes with dark chocolate, but I wanted one that was made from cocoa so chose this one from Nigella and I would wholehearted recommend this for Sunday lunch with friends, a dinner party or maybe even a weekend afternoon treat. It's also very simple to make :)

Chocolate Olive Oil & Almond Cake

Ingredients

• 150ML OLIVE OIL (PLUS A LITTLE MORE FOR GREASING THE CAKE TIN)
• 50G GOOD-QUALITY SIFTED COCOA POWDER (I USED GREEN & BLACK'S)
• 125ML BOILING WATER
• 2 TSP VANILLA EXTRACT
• 150G GROUND ALMONDS
• ½ TSP BICARBONATE OF SODA
• PINCH OF SALT
• 200G CASTER SUGAR
• 3 LARGE EGGS
• ICING SUGAR FOR DUSTING

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 170°C. Grease an 8" springform tin with a little oil and line the base with baking parchment.
2. Sift the cocoa powder into a bowl or jug and whisk in the boiling water until you have a smooth paste. Whisk in the vanilla extract and then set it aside to cool a little.
3. In another bowl, combine the ground almonds with the bicarbonate of soda and pinch of salt.
4. Put the sugar, olive oil and eggs into a mixer and beat together on fast speed for 3 minutes (it should be a pale, aerated and thickened cream).
5. Turn the speed down a little and slowly pour in the cocoa mixture. When it's mixed in, scrape down the side of the bowl and then slowly tip in the ground almond mixture with the mixer still running.
6. Scrape down the sides again and then pour this liquid batter into the prepared tin.
7. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the sides are set and the very centre, on top, still looks slightly damp. 
8. Leave it to cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, still in its tin, and then ease the sides of the cake with a small metal spatula and spring it out of the tin. 
9. Eat warm or leave to cool, if you can wait that long!