Vegan Recipe Update
I created this recipe a long time and will leave the original here, but please note I have posted an updated recipe with vegan, plant-based ingredients here: Gluten-free Lemon Polenta Cake (Vegan)
Wow, it's been a reaaaaalllly long time since I last posted anything. Sorry about that... But I'm back now! And I hope you all enjoyed the holidays. I know I did *pats belly.*
Today I've been baking some lemon drizzle slices, but with a few surprise ingredients...
This recipe is adapted from Nigella's Lemon Polenta Cake but in my version, I've used olive oil in place of butter for a wonderfully light texture and to cut back on the cholesterol and saturated fats.
Olive oil also contains vitamin E which helps keep the baked goods fresher for longer.
I love olive oil and use it in most of the meals I make, but rarely baking, I think that might change now though...
These cake slices remind me of Mr Kipling Lemon Slices (but way better OBV) - that same intense lemon flavour and moist, spongy cake.
This version is both gluten-free and dairy-free. Enjoy!
📖 Recipe
Lemon Olive Oil Cake {Gluten-free, Dairy-free}
This recipe can be used to fit a 8 x 8 inch brownie tin or a 9 inch cake tin.
Ingredients
- 160 ml good quality olive oil
- 200 g caster sugar, superfine sugar
- 200 g ground almonds
- 100 g polenta, cornmeal
- 1 ½ tsp gluten-free baking powder
- 3 large eggs
- 2 large lemons, zest and juice
- 200 g icing sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180c. Grease the tin with a little olive oil and line with greaseproof paper.
- Mix the sugar and olive oil together until pale and frothy.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the ground almonds, cornmeal and baking powder.
- Pour the dry mixture into the olive oil and sugar bowl and mix. Then crack in 1 of the eggs, followed by the dry mixture then alternate the eggs and dry ingredients. Keep mixing all the while.
- Add the lemon zest and mix again until fully incorporated. Pour or scrape the mixture into your prepared tin and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean and the cake has begun to shrink away from the edges of the tin.
- Make the syrup by boiling together half of the lemon juice and 50g of the icing sugar in a small saucepan. Once the icing sugar’s dissolved into the juice, it's ready.
- Prick the top of the cake all over with a cake tester (a skewer will leave bigger holes but this is fine once you've covered it with icing), pour the warm syrup over the cake, and leave to cool before taking it out of its tin.
- Make the icing by mixing the remainder icing sugar and lemon juice, then once the cake has cooled, pour it on top and smooth over evenly.
- Leave the icing to set then cut into slices or squares. Enjoy!
Notes
Adapted from Nigella's Lemon Polenta Cake
Jess says
These look amazing! I love using polenta in lemon cake- will have to give this recipe a go! :)
Aimee says
Thank you Jess :-) I love the texture the polenta gives...
Kate says
These look lush! The use of olive oil sounds interesting………. How do you measure the conversion from butter to olive oil? Do you have a particular formula?
Aimee says
Thanks Kate! I used this as a guide: http://www.filippoberio.co.uk/olive-oil-health/olive-oil-health-benefits/substituting-oil-for-butter/
Kate says
Thanks Aimee. That's really helpful…...
Aimee says
No problem :-) Let me know how you get on if you try experimenting with it!
Consuelo @ Honey & Figs says
That olive oil sounds wonderful, I'm sure it'd make these slices taste delicious! I wish I could get it here ;--)
Polenta + almonds?? What a perfect cake! I need to try it.
Glad to see you're back and had such nice Christmas! xx
Aimee says
I'm sure you would love it, Consuelo! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas too :-)
Rosie says
I once started making muffins, then realised we'd run out of vegetable oil so used olive oil instead and they tasted absolutely disgusting! I remember feeding them to the ducks! So I'm intrigued by a baking recipe which deliberately uses olive oil, may have to test it out...
Aimee says
Haha, duck feeding is a great way to make the best of baking disasters :-) I think it must depend on the recipes, I know that olive oil really compliments lemon and worked well with the light and moist textures of the cake in this recipe - you wouldn't really know it contained olive oil at all. But I can imagine it really NOT working in some recipes because of it's distinct flavour. Takes a bit of experimenting, I guess!
Tamzin says
Yes please!!!!! These sound delicious and perfect for me as lemon cake is my favourite, thank you for sharing : )
Aimee says
Lemon cake is my favourite too, Tamzin! Hope you get to try these, you won't regret it...