Polenta Cake Recipe

Polenta cake is a popular Italian cake made with cornmeal, butter, plain flour or almond flour, sugar and orange or lemon. This is one of the most popular Italian desserts just like my lemon ricotta cake and Tiramisu. The polenta cake is super moist and soft with an orange sugar glaze. Learn how to make best polenta cake that is super moist and not dry in texture with step by step pictures and video. 

Polenta cake

If you know me, you already know that I love exploring new cuisine and ingredients. I bought a pack of polenta to try out perfect polenta and shrimp recipe. And this cake was in my mind for a very long time. Personally i love the texture of cornmeal or polenta.

Jump to:

• What is Polenta?
• About Polenta cake 
• Watch Citrus Polenta Cake Video
• Polenta cake Ingredients
• How to Make Polenta Cake (Stepwise Pictures)
• Eggless Lemon Polenta Cake (with Almonds)
• Expert Tips
• 📖 Recipe Card

This cake has a delicious nutty taste to it which comes from the polenta added. Some recipes using almond flour to keep the cake moist. But this recipe used regular flour and for the moist texture of the cake it has a modest amount of butter and yogurt. Try this cake for your next weekend bake and I am sure you will love it as much as we did. 

What is Polenta?

Polenta is also called as cornmeal which is finely ground corn which is popular in Italy. Polenta is cooked in stock or broth till creamy, cream or butter is added to make a creamy polenta. This popular Italian dish is served with tomato sauce or shrimp to make a satisfying meal. 

The most popular recipe made using polenta are desserts such as lemon polenta cake, polenta drizzle cake or puddings. 

About Polenta cake 

Polenta cake is a popular Italian dessert made with butter, sugar, yogurt, polenta, some kind of citrus fruits like lemon or orange. This cake is popular in Italian cafe and usually served with coffee, or espresso. 

Polenta cake has a nutty texture to it which usually comes from the cornmeal itself. Many recipes use ground almond to add moist texture. But this recipe uses just pantry staple ingredients like butter, sugar, plain flour, yogurt. 

The cake is soaked with a citrus sugar syrup in the end to preserve the texture. You can enjoy this with a cup of black coffee or espresso. 

Similar recipes

Lemon drizzle cake

Poppy seed cake 

French lemon yogurt cake 

Eggless orange cake 

Lemon chia cake 

Watch Citrus Polenta Cake Video

Polenta cake Ingredients

Polenta - polenta is also known as Italian corn meal. It adds a nutty taste and texture to the cake when it is baked. Use fine textured polenta for making the cake. 

Plain flour - I used plain flour in the cake to keep it simple. Instead of plain flour, you can use ground almonds. 

Butter - use soft butter for making the cake. It adds soft and moist texture in the cake. It is important to use unsalted soft butter for better texture.

Yogurt - use unsweetened natural yogurt for making the cake. You can use sour cream for making the cake tender and soft. 

Eggs - I used egg in this recipe, you need eggs to make the cake soft and tender. I haven’t tried this cake without eggs. 

Orange - use one or two oranges. For making the cake more citrusy, you need to use orange zest and orange juice as well. Use a microplane or zester to grate the orange zest. I use orange juice in the cake batter and syrup. 

Sugar - you can totally adjust the sweetness level to your preference.

Polenta Cake in 6 Easy Steps

Pre-preparation - Preheat oven to 180 degree c. Take a 8 or 9 inch Bundt cake pan. Grease the pan generously with butter and set aside. 

Orange zest & Juice - Take oranges and use a micro plane or zester to grate the orange skin. When grating the peel make sure to grate only the orange part of the skin alone. Don’t grate the white part, it might be bitter. Now squeeze the orange juice and set aside.

Polenta Cake Batter - Take soft butter, sugar, orange zest in a bowl. Use an electric beater or whisk to cream the butter really well till light, creamy and fluffy. Now add in eggs and mix till creamy. Add in yogurt and mix well till combined.  Add in baking powder, plain flour, polenta, orange juice and mix well to form a smooth batter. 

Baking Polenta Cake - Pour this batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 45 minutes in the preheated oven. When the cake is baking in oven, make the syrup. 

Orange Syrup - Take orange juice and sugar in a sauce pan. Heat it and bring it to a full boil. Let it cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Take it off the heat and set aside. 

Soaking Polenta Cake - Remove the pan from oven and let it cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Gently unmould the cake to a serving plate.  Use a toothpick pick to poke few holes all over the cake. Now spoon the prepared syrup over the cake generously. Let it sit for few hours before slicing. Slice and enjoy. 

How to Make Polenta Cake (Stepwise Pictures)

Pre-preparation

1)Take a 8 inch bundt cake pan, grease generously with butter. Preheat oven to 180 degree C.

2)Take oranges and use a micro plane or zester to grate the orange skin. When grating the peel make sure to grate only the orange part of the skin alone. Don’t grate the white part, it might be bitter. Now squeeze the orange juice and set aside.

Creaming Butter and sugar

3)Take soft butter, sugar and orange zest in a bowl. 

4)Use an electric beater or hand whisk to mix this till light, creamy and fluffy. This will take around 3 to 4 minutes of mixing. 

5)Now add in eggs and mix till butter and sugar is combined with the eggs. 

6)At this point the mixture may look curdled. But not to worry, once you add in the flour mixture, the batter will come together. 

Making Batter

7)Add in yogurt, it helps to tenderise the cake and make it soft and moist.

8)Mix the yogurt into the cake till it is creamy. 

9)Now start adding in the dry ingredients. Add in baking agent and mix well so it is evenly combined.

10)Add in polenta. 

11)Add in plain flour. Instead of plain flour, you can use wheat flour.

12)Add in orange juice to form a smooth batter. 

13)You can adjust the consistency of the batter with more orange juice. 

Baking Cake

14)Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Spread evenly.

15)Place the cake pan in a preheated oven and cook. Bake until the cake is cooked. 

16)Once the cake is cooked, remove it from oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes. Un mould the cake on a serving plate. 

Syrup for Cake

17)For orange syrup. Take orange juice, sugar in a sauce pan. 

18)Boil this for 5 minutes till sticky.

19)This is your orange syrup.

Soaking cake in syrup

20)Poke few holes in the cake with a toothpick. This helps the syrup penetrate into the cake better. 

21)Spoon the syrup into the cake generously. Allow it to sit for 10 minutes.

22)Slice and serve. 

23)Enjoy.

Eggless Lemon Polenta Cake (with Almonds)

Traditionally polenta cake is made with ground almonds. Since almonds lock in the moisture content. This recipe is my take on lemon polenta cake made without eggs. The cake batter is very simple to make. Just mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl, pour into skillet and bake.

Traditionally the cake is soaked with sugary lemon syrup. But for healthy option, I used maple syrup.

Ingredients Used

• ⅓ cup Polenta
• ⅓ cup Ground Almond
• ¾ cup Wheat flour
• ⅓ cup Sugar
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• ¼ tsp Baking Soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ cup Oil
• ¼ cup Milk
• ½ cup Yogurt
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract 
• ½ tsp Lemon zest
• 1 tsp Lemon Juice
• 2 tbsp Pinenuts

For Syrup 

• 4 tbsp Maple Syrup
• 2 tsp lemon Juice

How to Make Eggless Lemon Polenta Cake

1)Grease a 5 inch cast iron skillet with oil or butter. Preheat oven to 180 degree C.

In a large mixing bowl take polenta, wheat flour, ground almonds, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt. Mix this really well till combined. Now add in oil, milk, yogurt, vanilla, lemon zest, lemon juice into the polenta, mix this gently using a spatula to a smooth batter. 

2)Pour this into the prepared cast iron pan. Spread evenly. Sprinkle top with some pine nuts and bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes. 

3)Once baked, remove from oven and let it cool. Meanwhile make the syrup. 

4)Mix maple syrup with lemon juice. Taste and adjust the sweetness of the syrup. 

5)Now pour this over the baked cake generously. Let it sit for 5 minutes. Slice and serve. 

Expert Tips

• You can use sooji instead of polenta. The measurements are same. 
• Instead of plain flour, you can use wheat flour or almond flour. 
• Use natural unsweetened yogurt, you can use sour cream instead of yogurt. 
• Instead of orange juice and zest, you can use lemon juice and lemon zest. 
• Regular round, square or loaf pan cake be used. The baking timing may vary. 

Storage & Serving

Polenta cake can be stored at room temperature for 2 days. You can keep it in fridge for 4 to 5 days. Polenta cake can be served with a cup of coffee or tea.

More Italian Recipes

📖 Recipe Card

If you have any questions not covered in this post and if you need help, leave me a comment or mail me @[email protected] and I’ll help as soon as I can.

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook,Pinterest ,Youtube  for more Yummy Tummy inspiration.

IF YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE OR ANYTHING FROM YUMMY TUMMY, MAKE SURE TO POST IT AND TAG ME SO I CAN SEE ALL OF YOUR CREATIONS!! #YUMMYTUMMYAARTHI AND @YUMMYTUMMYAARTHI ON INSTAGRAM!

More Cake Recipes to Try