LEMON POLENTA CAKE RECIPE also VEGAN version
Today I want to present a recipe with a simple appearance, but with an incredible taste: the Lemon Polenta Cake known in Italy by the name of Amor polenta or also “Dolce di Varese”.
This dessert is typical of the Lombard tradition and its wonderful amber color is given by a typical ingredient used in traditional Italian pastry making and cuisine, Fioretto corn flour, which has a finer grain than the traditional corn flour used in other preparations , like polenta.
The story goes that the Limone Polenta Torta was born from the hands of Carlo Zamberletti, a historic pastry chef from Varese: his idea was to give the city a typical dessert made with local ingredients, which could be appreciated and loved by all citizens. And so it was that the Limone Polenta Torta (Amor polenta) soon became the symbol of the city of Varese, enjoying great public success also in the rest of Italy and throughout the world.
Why will you like Lemon Polenta Cake? Because it is a delicate dessert with a classic amber color due to the presence of corn flour which gives it a very particular flavour, and due to the presence of almonds in the dough which give it a particular humidity and fragrance. And then it’s a quick and easy recipe to prepare that allows you to quickly prepare an ideal dessert for any moment of the day, from breakfast to a snack.
Since many of my friends are starting to become VEGAN, I also created a vegan version of the Limone Polenta Cake which, furthermore, being dairy-free, egg-free, is suitable for everyone.
Ingredients
- Power 404,17 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 35,19 (g) of which sugars 19,57 (g)
- Proteins 9,50 (g)
- Fat 24,77 (g) of which saturated 11,32 (g)of which unsaturated 7,62 (g)
- Fibers 1,99 (g)
- Sodium 176,54 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 70 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Tools
Steps
STEP 1
To prepare Limone Polenta Cake, put butter in the bowl of a mixer or planetary mixer (with whisk) and mix together with sugar for 10 minutes. You must obtain frothy mixture. Add eggs one at a time: please do not add the next egg until the previous one is completely mixed.
STEP 2
Add vanilla bean seeds (or a sachet of vanillin), rum and salt, always with the mixer running.
Use a spatula to incorporate Fioretto corn flour, almond flour and finally 00 flour sifted together with yeast.
STEP 3
Butter a mold and flour it (if you want there is a typical mold that you can buy online) and transfer the mixture inside. Cook in a static oven at 175° for about 30 minutes. Before removing from the oven, check for doneness with a toothpick: it should come out dry. When Limone Polenta Torta is cooked, remove from the oven and let cool before removing from the mold. Serve with a sprinkling of icing sugar.
STORAGE
You can store this dessert in a cool, dry place under a glass bell jar for 3 or 4 days; alternatively, you can also freeze it.
VEGAN LEMON POLENTA CAKE RECIPER
INGREDIENTS
150 g chopped almonds
150 g fine polenta (not instant)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
100 ml light olive oil, plus a little more for greasing the pan
200 g semolina
2 large lemons
250 ml white soya yogurt with almond milk, at room temperature
75 g icing sugar
PROCEDURE
Heat the static oven to 180 C and line a 20 cm diameter springform cake pan with baking paper.
1 Place polenta flour, almond flour, yeast, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a bowl and mix with a fork.
2 Pour oil into another bowl, add sugar and lemon zest and mix with a spoon. Add the yogurt and mix until fully incorporated. Then pour the bowl of wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and stir to combine.
3 Pour into the pan and bake for about 40 minutes, until the cake starts to pull away from the sides of the pan and the toothpick comes out clean. When the cake is cooked, leave to cool before removing from the mold. Serve cake plain or with icing sugar.
TIPS and VARIATIONS
CORN FLOUR For this dessert, corn flour is used which gives this dessert its unmistakable color and particular flavour. Choose Fioretto corn flour for its fine grain.
ALMOND FLOUR If you don’t have almond flour at home you can replace it with almonds with the peel which will be peeled by soaking them in hot water before being chopped or with almonds already without the peel.
RUM Rum can be replaced with Strega liqueur, but also omitted from the preparation.
Varied doses for servings