Moist and Lemony Polenta Cake

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Plain and simple lemon polenta cake, a rustic Italian-style dessert made with whole grain cornmeal and plenty of fresh lemon.

This lemon polenta cake is one of my family’s favorite homemade desserts — it’s a keeper recipe. It’s easy to make and bakes up into a rustic, Italian-inspired cake infused with lemon zest and juice.

The cake has a tender texture and a lovely crunch of coarse cornmeal —  a/k/a polenta. It’s just the sort of homey cake I like to have on the kitchen counter to serve with tea or just to snack on.

Baking with polenta

Baking with coarse cornmeal, which is ground from the entire kernel, retains the grain’s natural germ and bran, giving the finished product a pleasing crunch.

The difference between baking with very fine cornmeal (cornflour) and coarse cornmeal comes down to texture.

Cornmeal is ground from dried corn, and varies in grind from fine to coarse. Fine cornmeal is processed to remove gritty texture, and often most of the healthy parts go with it.

You can find this type of cornmeal in your regular grocery store. I usually keep polenta corn grits in my pantry, and sometimes splurge on this heirloom cornmeal.

How to make lemon polenta cake:

• First, bring your ingredients to room temperature, including the eggs.

Pro tip: Shortcut to room temperature eggs: Crack the whole eggs and whites into a small dish while getting your cake pan and the rest of the ingredients ready. You can also place the whole un-cracked eggs in a bowl of very warm water for 15 minutes.

How to serve the cake

Like many cakes, the texture and flavor will actually improve the day after baking – but honestly, in our house it rarely lasts that long! Keep the wrapped cake at room temperature for several days.

• Dust with powdered sugar.
• Cut it into slices and enjoy out of hand as a snack cake.
• Glaze it: Whisk 1 cup of powdered sugar with 1 teaspoon lemon juice and 1-2 tablespoons milk.
• Serve slices of cake alongside generous helpings of whatever seasonal fruit is at its sweetest. Try lightly sweetened berries, plums, or peaches in the summer, or prosecco-poached pears or roasted spiced apples in the fall and winter.

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Moist and Lemony Polenta Cake

Karen Tedesco

This simple, rustic Italian-style lemon polenta cake recipe will be a keeper in your recipe file! It has a lovely crunch of cornmeal and lots of fresh lemon.

Print SaveSaved

4.88 from 125 community reviews

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Total Time 50 minutes mins

Course Desserts

Cuisine Baking

Servings 8 servings

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 cup (165 g) polenta, or stone-ground cornmeal
• ▢ ¾ cup (100 g) all-purpose flour
• ▢ 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• ▢ 2 large eggs
• ▢ 2 (60 ml) egg whites (1/4 cup)
• ▢ 1 cup (220 g) sugar
• ▢ ¼ cup (60 ml) olive oil or neutral oil such as canola or avocado
• ▢ 2 tablespoons (30 g) unsalted butter, softened
• ▢ ½ cup (125 ml) whole milk plain yogurt or sour cream
• ▢ 2 tablespoons grated fresh lemon zest
• ▢ 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• ▢ Powdered sugar

US Customary – Metric

Instructions 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees (175 C) and place an oven rack in the center of the oven.
• Line the bottom of an 8-inch cake pan with parchment paper to fit (see how-to video above) and lightly brush the bottom and sides of the pan with oil or cooking spray.
• Whisk the cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.
• Beat the eggs, egg whites and sugar in a heavy-duty stand mixer on medium-high speed 4-5 minutes, until pale and creamy. On low speed, mix in the oil. butter, yogurt, lemon zest and juice.
• Stir in the dry ingredients until just blended. Pour the batter into the pan and bake 35-40 minutes, or until the top feels firm (not hard) and a toothpick inserted in the center of cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan 10 minutes before inverting onto a rack to cool – run a dull knife around the edge of the pan to loosen.
• Sift powdered sugar over the cake and serve.

Karen’s Notes and Tips

• The cake keeps well for several days at room temperature.
• To freeze: Cool the cake completely, then wrap in several layers of plastic wrap and freeze for up to 1 month. Defrost at room temperature.
• In place of neutral oil, I sometimes substitute an Italian lemon olive oil when I feel like splurging – it tastes amazing!

Nutrition

Calories: 291kcal Carbohydrates: 39g Protein: 4g Fat: 14g Sodium: 266mg Fiber: 1g Sugar: 26g

Nutrition facts are calculated by third-party software. If you have specific dietary needs, please refer to your favorite calculator.

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• Cakes
• Desserts
• Italian

Hey, I’m Karen

Creator of Familystyle Food

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I’m a food obsessed super-taster and professionally trained cook ALL about creating elevated dinners with everyday ingredients. Find simplified recipes made from scratch and enjoy incredibly tasty food! Read more about me here.