This is a standard tea cake transformed with Italian-inspired flavours: almonds, polenta, lemons and seasonal berries. The cake is easy to make and very forgiving with the baking time, as it won’t dry out like a floury cake.
The flavoursome grittiness of the polenta and tender textured nuttiness from the ground almonds makes for a flavourful gluten-free afternoon-tea treat.
Making your own freshly ground nut meal really enhances the flavours. Pop whole nuts in the fridge or freezer for an hour and then use a food processor to blitz them, taking care not to over-blitz or you will end up with nut butter.
Feel encouraged to use your choice of berries or maybe a lemon icing, or try with ground hazelnuts.
Serves 6-8
Special equipment
- 25 × 10 cm loaf tin
- stand mixer with paddle attachment
- food processor
- angled palette knife
Ingredients
- 250 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 225 g raw caster sugar
- zest of 2 lemons
- 1 vanilla bean, split lengthways and seeds scraped or 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- 170 g egg (from about 4 eggs), at room temperature
- 110 g fine polenta
- 275 g almond meal (see recipe introduction, above)
- 50 g rice flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 50 g lemon juice
- 125 g fresh or frozen raspberries, or 50 g dried raspberries
- 1 teaspoon cornflour
Raspberry icing
- 125 g fresh, frozen or dried raspberries
- 110 g icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Method
- Preheat the oven to 160°C fan-forced (180°C conventional). Grease a 25 × 10 cm loaf tin with butter or oil spray and line it with baking paper.
- In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar, lemon zest and vanilla seeds for about 10 minutes, until pale and creamy. In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg. In several stages, add the egg to the creamed butter mixture, mixing well between additions until fully incorporated. Scrape down the side of the bowl to ensure everything is thoroughly mixed.
- In a separate bowl, combine the polenta, almond meal and rice flour with the baking powder and salt and whisk with a fork to knock out any lumps and mix well. Add the dry mixture to the mixer bowl and mix on low speed until just incorporated. With the mixer still running, slowly pour in the lemon juice and mix until just combined.
- In a small bowl, gently toss your fresh raspberries with the cornflour.
- Pour half the cake mixture into your prepared tin and scatter half of the raspberries over the top. Add the remaining cake mixture, using a spatula to gently smooth out the top, then scatter the remaining raspberries over the top. Bake for 50 minutes, then rotate the tin and bake for a further 10–15 minutes, or until the top is a lovely golden colour all over and is firm to the touch. As this is gluten-free and very moist, it’s not a good idea to test it with a cake skewer, as it will come out with crumbs. Cool in the tin for about 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Meanwhile, make the raspberry icing.
- Blend the raspberries in a food processor, then pass the pulp through a fine sieve over a small saucepan to remove the seeds. Place over medium heat and reduce until you have about 1½ tablespoons (30 g) of purée. Set aside to cool.
- Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add most of the raspberry purée. Stir it in and check the consistency—you want it to be thin enough to spread but not so liquid that it won’t set. Adjust the consistency by adding a little lemon juice or icing sugar as required.
- Immediately pour the icing over your cooled cake, use an angled palette knife to spread it all over the top, then leave to set.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
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Images and text from The Baker’s Book edited by Ruby Goss, photography by Rochelle Eagle, illustrations by Beci Orpin. Murdoch Books RRP $45.00.
