No Gluten, No Problem

Gluten? Fuggedaboutit.

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Blog
  • Recipes
    • Artisan GF Flour Blend
    • Common Ingredient Substitutions
  • Books
    • No Gluten, No Problem Pizza
    • Gluten-Free Family Favorites
    • Artisanal Gluten-Free Cooking
    • Artisanal Gluten-Free Cupcakes
    • The Gluten-Free Edge
  • Contact

Italian Lemon Almond Cake

January 11, 2013 by Peter Bronski

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

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr

Filed Under: Desserts, Recipes Tagged With: almond, cake, dessert, Italian, lemons

« Fried Calamari
6 Tips for Hosting a Gluten-Free Children’s Party »

Comments

  1. Beetique says

    January 11, 2013 at 10:20 pm

    this looks wonderful

  2. Ali the Skinny GF Chef says

    January 12, 2013 at 4:15 pm

    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

  3. Vicky says

    January 12, 2013 at 4:30 pm

    Wonderful cake!

  4. Evie Abat says

    January 12, 2013 at 4:34 pm

    Would it be possible to replace the regular milk with almond milk? I’m lactose intolerant.

  5. kellibronski says

    January 12, 2013 at 7:29 pm

    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

  6. kellibronski says

    January 12, 2013 at 7:30 pm

    Ali – Thanks, we will keep an eye out!

    Kelli

  7. kellibronski says

    January 15, 2013 at 5:13 pm

    Thank you Beetique and Vicky!

    Kelli

  8. Leta says

    February 1, 2013 at 5:37 pm

    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. 🙂

  9. rosalyne carter says

    March 20, 2013 at 9:16 pm

    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.

  10. Angie says

    August 5, 2014 at 4:33 pm

    This looks incredible! Where can I get almond flour? What are some of the best brands to use for baking?

    Thank you!

  11. plasterer bristol says

    February 2, 2015 at 7:36 am

    this sounds delicious, thanks for sharing this recipe.

    Simon

Welcome

Your kitchen. Our recipes. Happy taste buds! That’s the short story of No Gluten, No Problem.

Want to learn more about us? We’re Pete and Kelli Bronski, the husband-and-wife team behind the website.

>> Get to know us better.

Connect With Us

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Available Now!

Search

Archives

Copyright © 2025 · No Gluten, No Problem · Design by Heather Mackan · Built on GenesisWP

Copyright © 2025 · Tasteful Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in