Blueberry (and raspberry) Polenta Cake (2)
This is a very moist polenta cake that has wholesome ingredients, and not too much sugar. It's very easy, and versatile, and can be made with blueberries, raspberries, cranberries or any other soft fruit berry - or a mixture of all of them!
Equipment
- 25cm or 10 inch loose bottom wavy cake tin is best - Silverwood is a good brand
- large bowl
- large jug
- accurate digital scales
- electric whisk
- grater with zester
Ingredients
The main blueberry cake
- 125 g medium cornmeal/polenta don't use the fine polenta the texture is wrong. It needs the slight graininess of medium to work. Lion brand is very good
- 120 g ground almonds
- 120 g wholemeal self-raising flour you could use all wholemeal flour it might be a little heavy though. I'm gradually increasing the proportion of wholemeal flour.
- 30 g white self-raising flour this works fine - could reduce it a little more
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 lemons use the finely grated zest of 3 of your lemons but you'll need 4 lemons in total
- 110 g caster sugar - reduced this to 110 - it was fine. was 130g but I prefer less sugar - could possibly get away with 110g of sugar
- 120 g sunflower/rapeseed oil. extra virgin/cold pressed
- 80 ml/g freshly squeezed lemon juice about 2 large lemons
- 120 ml/g non-dairy milk - oat milk is good but any will do.
- 120 g non-dairy yogurt – soya yogurt is good I like alpro soya with coconut
- 2 tsps vanilla extract
- 150 g fresh blueberries or any another type of soft fruit
- 80 g fresh raspberries buy a punnet, you don't need them all - so you can eat the rest
The Syrup to pour over when cooked
- 80 ml/g freshly squeezed lemon juice about 2 large lemons
- 30 g maple syrup or agave syrup I made a sprinkler from an old mayonaise jar!
Instructions
Making the main cake
- Preheat the oven to 180°C Fan/350°F/gas mark 4. Grease a 25cm cake tin
- Grease and line your loose bottom fluted flan case
- Place the cornmeal, ground almonds, flours, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a large bowl
- whisk gently to combine, and break up any lumps, and make a small well in the centre.
- zest the lemons and squeeze out the juice.
- In a 1 litre jug add the lemon zest, oil, lemon juice, plant milk, plant yogurt and vanilla extract.
- whisk the wet ingredients - not too fast if using an electric whisk as it will go everywhere......
- Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients
- whisk well until no dry lumps remain.
- add in 70g of the blueberries to the mix and quickly stir them in - this adds extra flavour and juiciness - but is optional - you can just put them all on top if you prefer.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and shake level if necessary. Evenly drop the raspberries (which are larger so easier to do first) then sprinkle over the blueberries – I found dropping them was best as then they sank in a little
- With the oven pre-heated to 180°C Fan - bake for about 40 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. See finished pic.
Moistening with lemon/maple syrup
- While the cake is baking, mix together the lemon juice and maple syrup in a jug or sprinkler. Give it 30 seconds in the microwave and then shake to mix well. See picture for a home-made sprinkler jar.
- When the cake is done, drizzle over the syrup while it is still hot then allow to cool a little before serving.
- The cake tastes at it's best eaten on the day it is baked but will keep well for 3 or 4 days if covered or in an airtight container. If you keep it in the fridge or a very cool place even longer - in that case I reccomend giving each slice 15 seconds in the microwave to warm it up. Or it can even be frozen - handy for unexpected guests or gardeners.
Notes
- For the best results make sure that you follow the recipe closely.
- The blueberries can be swapped for any other kind of soft berry – eg: cranberries, raspberries, black currants but probably not strawberries - or you can put some of the blueberries in the mixture and add a few raspberries on top as in the picture.
- Tastes amazing when eaten with soya cream, vanilla soya ice cream, or vegan mascarpone
- I've recently taken to putting 70g of the blueberries in the mixture, and saving 80g for the top.
- I've discovered that if you're adding raspberries, because they're bigger, it's easier to add them on top first and then adding the blueberries after as they are smaller and easier to fit in the gaps.
- The raspberries makes it look prettier, and taste even better.....!!!!
- You don't need to use all the raspberries - maybe half to 2/3 - just eat the ones that are left as they only go off in the fridge if you don't!
- This is a development based on a recipe that was originally featured here Lemon Blueberry Polenta Cake (Vegan with Gluten Free, Low Fodmap Option) - Domestic Gothess and is by Hannah - the Domestic Gothess!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!