Time: 1 hour.
Complexity: easily
Quantity: 16 parts

This cake is a fusion of English and Italian cuisine. The flat, even disk is reminiscent of Italian pastry chefs who display their creations in a strictly geometric pattern, while the syrup-soaked, moist texture evokes lemon pie, a classic English teatime treat.

It's a good combination: I love Italian cuisine in all its forms except one—their cakes are very dry and very sweet. However, in this cake, the combination of the fragrant, grainy polenta and the delicate slivers of ground almonds is very different from the moist, soggy cakes made with regular flour.

But that's not all. Through some alchemical process, the lemon accentuates the richness of the dough, resulting in a rich yet vibrant flavor. If you can imagine the taste of lemon curd in a cake, that's exactly what you'll get.

While I'd be tempted to cut a piece and pop it right into my mouth, scattering crumbs all over the table, this cake is best eaten (always in company) with a knife and fork. Either way, it's sure to keep you from relaxing at a party.

Ingredients:

Cupcake:

• 200 g softened butter, plus a little extra for greasing
• 1 cup of ultrafine sugar
• 2 cups almond flour
• 3/4 cup dry cornmeal for cooking polenta
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 3 eggs
• Zest of 2 lemons (reserve the juice for the syrup)
• Additional equipment: 1 springform pan, diameter 23 cm.

Syrup:

• Juice of 2 lemons (see above)
• 1 heaping cup of powdered sugar

Substituting ingredients
Measuring containers used

1 glass (st.) - 250 ml.
3/4 cup (st.) - 180 ml.
2/3 cup (st.) - 160 ml.
1/2 cup (st.) - 125 ml.
1/3 cup (st.) - 80 ml.
1/4 cup (st.) - 60 ml.
1 tablespoon (tbsp) - 15 ml.
1 teaspoon (tsp) - 5 ml.
1/5 teaspoon (tsp) - 1 ml.

Recipes with similar ingredients

cupcake, almond flour, polenta, powdered sugar, lemon zest, eggs, syrup

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Preparation:

Step 1
• For the cake: Line the bottom of a cake pan with parchment paper and lightly grease the sides with butter. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
  
  Using a stand mixer or by hand with a wooden spoon, beat the butter and sugar in a bowl until pale and fluffy.
  
  Mix the almond flour, polenta and baking powder and add some of this mixture to the butter and sugar, then, continuing to beat, add 1 egg, then the dry ingredients again and the eggs.
Step 2
• Finally, stir in the lemon zest and pour the batter, scraping it down the sides of the bowl, into the prepared pan and bake for about 40 minutes. The cake may look underdone, but if it's done, a cake tester will come out clean and, more tellingly, the edges of the cake will begin to pull away from the pan. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack in the pan.
Step 3
• For the syrup: To make the syrup, bring the lemon juice and powdered sugar to a boil in a small saucepan. When the sugar dissolves in the juice, the syrup is ready. Prick the surface of the cake with a cake tester (a toothpick will dent it too much), pour the warm syrup over it, and let it cool before removing from the pan.
  
  Culinary advice: The cake can be baked up to 3 days in advance and stored in an airtight container in a cool place. It will keep for up to 5-6 days. Once cool, freeze the cake with the parchment paper still in the pan. Wrap the cake in a double layer of plastic wrap and a layer of foil over the parchment paper and store for up to 1 month. Defrost for 3-4 hours at room temperature.

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