Christmas was a funny holiday for us this year. Now based once again in Colorado, we flew east to celebrate—as usual—with family. But between schedules, snowstorms, and illnesses, my family’s Sicilian Christmas Eve was postponed until many days later. Even then, it was a slightly more subdued version of its usually robust self.
Kelli was feeling inspired to make a new Italian dessert for the occasion, and after some research, settled on a gluten-free version of a semolina cake. The preparation starts by making almost a polenta, to which add almond flour, sugar, eggs, and a handful of other ingredients. It’s very traditional, basically only swapping fine corn meal in place of what would otherwise be semolina flour.
Italian Lemon Almond Cake
Makes one 10-inch cake, about 16 slices
Ingredients
4 cups whole milk
Pinch salt
3/4 cup fine corn meal
3/4 cup almond flour
3/4 cup sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
2 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp GF almond extract
4 eggs
Steps
1. Preheat your oven to 350 deg F. Grease a 10-inch springform pan.
2. Bring the milk and salt to a boil in a medium-large saucepan.
3. Add the corn meal slowly—as you would for polenta—whisking constantly.
4. Turn the heat down and simmer for 7–8 minutes, stirring frequently until very thick.
5. Whisk in the almond flour, sugar, lemon zest, and butter.
6. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs. Temper the eggs by slowly adding small amounts of the “polenta” while whisking constantly. Once you’ve added about half the polenta to the eggs, pour the bowl’s contents back into the saucepan.
7. Stir in the almond extract.
8. Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake 45–50 minutes, until golden on top. (After the 45–50 minutes, you can also place the cake briefly under a broiler for extra browning on top without over-cooking the cake.)
9. When cool, dust with powdered sugar. (You could also garnish the top with sliced almonds.) Refrigerate any leftovers.
Degrees of Free-dom
This recipe is: gluten-free, peanut-free, fish-free, shellfish-free, soy-free, vegetarian.
Enjoy!
–Pete
this looks wonderful
Thanks Pete, what a beautiful recipe. I’m going to work on it this weekend and will post my results on my blog with a link back to you. Thanks so much. Ali
Wonderful cake!
Would it be possible to replace the regular milk with almond milk? I’m lactose intolerant.
Evie – We have not tried the recipe with almond milk, but I would definitely give it a try! I think it will work.
If you try it please let us know how it turns out.
Thanks!
Kelli
Ali – Thanks, we will keep an eye out!
Kelli
Thank you Beetique and Vicky!
Kelli
I was in a play a few years back (“Dinner with Friends” by Donald Margulies) that has a good chunk of one scene devoted to some of the characters trying a Lemon Almond Polenta cake, so I offered to make one for each performance. We had the first pieces on stage and the rest went out to the concessions stand for the audience. I even put the recipe in the playbill. Our recipe is slightly different but also very easy to make. I’d be happy to send it along if you like. 🙂
Your blog about Italian lemon almond cake is really awesome. I love this recipe very much.I will definitely try this recipe. The process of your cake is very simple and easy. I like Italian culture, tradition, italian food etc . Last summer I have visited Italy as well as I have visited Italian restaurant. I have enjoyed Italian food very much.
This looks incredible! Where can I get almond flour? What are some of the best brands to use for baking?
Thank you!
this sounds delicious, thanks for sharing this recipe.
Simon