Drenched in a lemony syrup, this delicious almond-polenta cake is gluten-free, too.
If you are looking for a cake that you can eat for breakfast, with tea, as a snack or dessert, this is the cake for you. And it also happens to be gluten-free. This lemon polenta cake is moist with olive oil and drenched in lemony syrup. The result is a moist and dense cake, bursting with citrus and with a nutty, toothsome texture, thanks to the polenta and almond meal. It’s also not an overly sweet cake, which may lead you to munch on it all day long. For the record, no one will judge you for that.
The only tricky issue is that this cake actually tastes better the day after baking, once the flavor and texture have been allowed to develop. So the challenge, if you can bear it, is to wrap the cake tightly in plastic and let it stand at room temperature overnight (perhaps out of sight). Of course, it’s highly acceptable to have a nibble or two when it’s right out of the oven. After all, you’re the chef, and it’s always good practice to taste and inspect your results.
This cake keeps well and can last up to four days at room temperature, which really is moot, because it’s also positively addicting. Chances are, once you begin eating it, you won’t be able to stop.
Lynda Balslev is a San Francisco Bay Area cookbook author, food and travel writer and recipe developer. She studied cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris and worked as a personal chef, culinary instructor and food writer in Switzerland and Denmark.