Syrupy lemon polenta cake

Rachel White’s easy lemon cake is gluten-free. Serve with crème fraîche to make it really special

• serves
  16
 
• prep in
  15
 
• cook in
  50
 
• freeze

• 300g butter, softened
• 300g caster sugar
• 300g ground almonds
• 150g polenta
• 2 lemons, finely grated zest only
• 5 large eggs

For the lemon syrup

• 1 lemon, juice only
• 2 tbsp icing sugar

1. Heat the oven to 180ºC/160ºC fan/Gas 4. Grease and line a 25cm round, loose-bottomed cake tin. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the ground almonds, polenta and lemon zest and beat until combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, until smooth.
2. Pour the mix into the prepared tin and bake for about 50 minutes or until golden and firm to the touch. After a few minutes, turn the cake out, upside down, on to a wire rack and prick the base all over with a fork.
3. For the syrup, bring the lemon juice and icing sugar to the boil, remove from the heat and spoon over the cake. Once it has soaked in, turn the cake the right way up or leave it as it is. Serve with crème fraîche if you like.

Per serving (without crème fraîche): calories 401 (20%), sugar 21.5g (24%), fat 28.6g (41%), saturates 11.2g (56%), salt 0.4g (6.6%) of your guideline daily amount