Lemon Polenta Cake with Honey Glaze; a light summery cake singing with fresh lemon, sticky honey and sunny yellow olive oil.
Turning the oven on is often the last thing you want to do when the weather starts to warm up. Regardless of whether you live in intense city heat or seaside humidity, the fridge and freezer are usually your best friends when that rare British sun appears.
However, there is something about summer cakes that is irresistible in any temperature.
By summer cakes, I mean the kind you can’t turn down on a hot day. Nothing heavy, nothing deeply chocolatey, nothing stodgy with dried fruit or booze. Summer cakes are light, fragrant, dressed with seasonal ingredients. Think sponges, fresh fruit, whipped cream.
If you love lemon, try out this Lemon Cheesecake Ice Cream!
Italy, and other hot Mediterranean countries, provide many great examples of this. Nations that love their sweets and desserts, but know just how to make them seasonal. Aside from the likes of the wintery panforte, Italian cakes are often deliciously sweet and fluffy affairs. Perfect for enjoying in the sunshine when the ice cream van is still a few hours away.
This Lemon Polenta Cake with Honey Glaze is an ode to such treats. A sunshine yellow cake, light and crumbly under its sticky exterior, kissed with the freshness of lemon and earthy richness of extra virgin olive oil.
This cake owes its texture to polenta. The vibrant yellow product of ground cornmeal that is hugely popular in the north of Italy. Polenta helps keep this cake deliciously moist whilst also giving it a welcome light crumble. It doesn’t provide too much in the way of flavour, behind the drama of lemon and runny honey. However, as with any savoury dish, polenta is a great canvas to begin making culinary magic with.
Admittedly, this Lemon Polenta Cake isn’t very much to look at. It’s a simple cake that can be made and enjoyed by just about anyone. However, when your kitchen is above 24 degrees celsius, you’ll be grateful not to be faffing about with frosting. Though I would thoroughly recommend a cold dollop of softly whipped cream on the side of your serving plate. Plus, not every cake has to be a carnival of decoration.
Love simple cakes? Try out this Amaretto Pear Cake!
I baked this Lemon Polenta Cake in a wee 15cm (6in) cake tin as there are only two people in our flat. However, this recipe could easily be doubled to make a 23cm (9in) cake to feed a family.
As always, I hope you are all staying as safe and healthy as you can. I appreciate you being here as ever. I also hope that baking and creating is for you, as it is for me, a comfort in these trying times.
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To make this Lemon Polenta Cake with Honey Glaze, simply follow the recipe below!
Lemon Polenta Cake with Honey Glaze
Lemon Polenta Cake with Honey Glaze; a light summery cake singing with fresh lemon, sticky honey and sunny yellow olive oil.
Notes
BE A MAVERICK: why not try this recipe using oranges instead of lemons? Why not add some fresh herbs like thyme or rosemary to the glaze?
This Lemon Polenta Cake will keep well in an airtight container or on a covered cake stand for up to 4 days.
Ingredients
For the Lemon Polenta Cake:
- 100g extra virgin olive oil
- 80g caster sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg yolk
- Zest of 1 lemon (plus extra to decorate, optional)
- 50g plain flour
- 50g polenta
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- Pinch of salt
For the Honey Glaze:
- 1 rounded tbsp runny honey
- Juice of ½ lemon
Instructions
For the Lemon Polenta Cake:
- Preheat your oven - 180 C / 160 C fan / 350 F / gas mark 4 - and grease and line a 15cm (6 inch) diameter round cake tin with some greaseproof paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together your olive oil and sugar until you have a sandy yellow paste.
- Add the egg and egg yolk and whisk the mixture again until smooth and combined.
- Gently whisk in the remaining cake ingredients until you have a smooth yellow cake batter.
- Pour into your prepared tin, levelling the top with the back of a spoon or spatula.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until gently risen, and firm to the touch. A skewer inserted into the cake should come out clean once it is ready.
- Remove from cake from the oven and allow to cool completely in the tin.
For the Honey Glaze:
- In a small saucepan or frying pan, gently warm the honey and lemon, stirring until combined into a sticky glaze.
- When cool, remove the cake from the tin and turn out onto your serving plate.
- Spoon or brush the warm glaze over the cake.
- Top the cake with any decoration you like, I used some extra lemon peel cut into thin strips.
- Enjoy!
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