Gluten Free Polenta cake

After sampling the delicious Lemon Polenta cake from Out For Lunch at Wollongong University I decided to hunt around for some recipes featuring lemon and polenta. There were some delicious recipes for Lemon Polenta Cake and some intriguing looking Lemon Polenta Whoopie Pies. 

The good thing is that Mitchells Fruit for Less in Warilla Grove (and Dapto) sells natural almonds which you can grind down to a flour if you can't find almond flour locally. There is a large range of polenta available in stores these days. I purchased mine from the Contentental delicatessan in Warrawong.

Lemon Polenta Cake 

    For the cake:

•     130 g ground almonds (or almond flour)
•     130 g shredded coconut
•     130 g fine polenta (or yellow cornmeal)
•     1 t baking powder
•     grated rind of 3 lemons
•     270 g soft butter
•     270 g caster sugar
•     4 eggs (55 g each)
•     juice of 2 lemons

    For the lemon glaze:

•     juice of 2 lemons
•     sugar to taste

    For the lemon icing:

•     250 g icing sugar
•     juice of ½ lemon, approximately

-Combine ground almonds, coconut, polenta, baking powder and lemon rind, and set aside. Using electric mixer beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
-Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Fold in dry ingredients and lemon juice until just combined. Pour mix into greased and lined 9-inch/24-centimeter round cake tin (not springform) and bake at 325°F/160°C for one hour or until golden and just coming away from the side of the tin.
-Meanwhile, make the lemon glaze by heating the lemon juice and sugar gently, until the sugar is just dissolved.
-Remove from the oven and cool in the tin. Run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen. Pour on lemon glaze while cake is still warm.
-Allow to cool completely in tin before turning on to a plate, as the cake falls apart easily while warm.
-Spread the lemon icing over the cake when cooled completely. (You can make the icing more like a loose glaze by slightly reducing the amount of icing sugar.)

Photos and recipe by A Whisk and a Spoon

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Lemon Polenta Whoopie Pies

Lemon Polenta Whoopie Pie Recipe (printable version):

Makes 16 pies

For the whoopie pie shells:

125g butter, at room temperature

200g light brown sugar

2 eggs

450g gluten free plain flour

1 tsp salt

1½ tsp baking soda

250ml buttermilk

225g polenta, soaked in lemon juice (roughly 175g dry polenta and the juice of 4 lemons)

For the chocolate ganache:

300g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa, broken into small pieces

300ml double cream

Juice of 1 lemon

50g butter

½ tsp salt

To decorate (optional):

100g dark or milk chocolate

50g ground pistachios

1. Preheat your oven to 180˚C. Line two baking trays with baking paper or silicone mats.

2. Whisk together the butter and sugar. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, salt and baking soda.

3. Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk.

4. Fold in the polenta. Fill a piping bag and pipe 5cm rounds (or however big you'd like your whoopie pies to be).

5. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the cakes spring back when touched. Allow to cool before filling.

6. While the whoopie pies are baking, heat the double cream to the point just before it boils over a medium heat. Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice, salt and butter. Stir until the butter melts completely

7. Add the hot double cream mixture to the chocolate pieces and whisk vigorously until the heat of the cream melts the chocolate, forming a thick ganache. Allow to cool.

8. Fill a piping bag with the chocolate ganache and pipe onto half the whoopie pie shells, cover with the other shells. To decorate, you can melt the milk chocolate over a hot water bath, spread a teaspoon full over the whoopie pies and top with ground pistachios.

Photography and recipe by Mowielicious

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For more Gluten-Free recipes using Almond Flour I recommend

The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook by Elana Amsterdam