This cake attracts inspiration from a small Italian restaurant in my neighborhood, which brings to life the cooking of the homeowners’ Italian grandmothers. On this easy but refined cake, the entire textures and flavors — from the cake crumb to the creamy topping, from the wealthy fruitiness of olive oil to the sunshine nutty sweetness of almond flour and polenta, to the deeply layered tart-sweet tang of lemons and mascarpone — come collectively for one lovely dessert.

As a recipe developer and blogger, I make numerous desserts. However after tasting this, my household checked out me and mentioned, “I believe it is the perfect factor you have ever made.” There was a superb purpose for it. The batter combines almond flour and polenta, which give it a pleasantly dense, barely grainy crumb that in some way finally ends up tasting so moist and light-weight, you may as nicely be consuming cream. The lemon comes via at each stage, within the crumb of the cake itself, in addition to within the fairly candied rind and whipped mascarpone that high the cake.

If you wish to shut out a dinner with a lightweight, brilliant, and stylish dessert, this gluten-free lemon olive oil cake is it. It comes collectively comparatively simply, and when in a rush, you possibly can skip the candied peels and name it a day. Nobody would be the wiser, and the cake will nonetheless style as if it got here from a nonna’s kitchen.

To make this cake, we begin with the candied lemon rinds. You’ll need the rind of two lemons and sugar. For the cake, you will want almond flour, tremendous polenta, baking powder, kosher salt, massive eggs, sugar, further virgin olive oil, the zest of two lemons, contemporary lemon juice, and toasted pistachios. Be sure you select a fruity further virgin olive oil that works for cake.

For the whipped mascarpone topping, seize mascarpone, heavy cream, powdered sugar, and lemon zest. For a remaining garnish, you will want the candied lemon rind that you simply made, small contemporary rosemary sprigs, and further virgin olive oil. 

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Grease a 9-inch spherical cake pan with olive oil and line the underside with parchment paper.

Deliver a small saucepan of water to a boil.

Add the lemon strips and blanch for two minutes. Drain and repeat twice extra.

Mix 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water within the saucepan and produce it to a simmer.

Add the blanched lemon strips and prepare dinner till the syrup thickens and caramelizes, about 15 to twenty minutes.

Switch the strips to a wire rack with a fork and funky utterly.

Whisk collectively the almond flour, polenta, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.

In a big bowl, beat the eggs and 1 cup sugar collectively till pale and barely thickened, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Stream within the olive oil whereas beating.

Add the lemon zest and lemon juice.

Fold within the dry substances till simply mixed. Fold within the pistachios.

Pour the batter into the ready pan.

Bake till the cake is golden and a toothpick inserted within the middle comes out clear, about 35 to 40 minutes.

Cool within the pan 10 minutes, then prove onto a wire rack.

Beat the mascarpone, heavy cream, powdered sugar, and lemon zest collectively till clean and flippantly whipped, about 2 minutes. Don’t overbeat.

Unfold or pipe the whipped mascarpone over the cooled cake.

Drizzle with olive oil. Organize the candied lemon rind excessive, and garnish with rosemary sprigs.

Polenta and cornmeal are comparable in that they’re each made out of dried floor corn. In that sense, they’re made out of the identical substances — however the similarities finish there. The principle distinction between polenta and cornmeal is in how they’re milled and the way that displays within the measurement of the grains and their style and texture when cooked. Cornmeal might be floor from yellow, white, or some other coloured corn. It’s usually floor finer, nearer to a powder, although you possibly can normally purchase tremendous or coarse cornmeal. Polenta is an Italian product that’s largely utilized in the identical manner rice is. It’s courser and extra granular than conventional cornmeal.

This distinction issues in baking. The grind determines texture, which impacts how moist your cake feels and tastes. Coarse polenta lets extra liquid in and may give you a extra granular crumb that feels extra ethereal. In distinction, cornmeal may give a fairly dense and steady crumb that may maintain its form nearer to finely floor flour.

For this recipe, we ask you to trace down tremendous polenta. This behaves someplace within the center, extra like a rough flour. This provides the cake its attribute slight chunk with out turning into gritty or sandy. I like to recommend that you simply take the time to search out it for the perfect outcomes.

This cake is of course gluten-free, so no specialty flours are wanted. Nevertheless, should you’re having bother finding tremendous polenta and you do not care about holding the cake freed from gluten, then tremendous semolina flour gives you an identical grainy crumb with a tighter construction. Semolina flour is completely different than cornmeal as a result of it is made out of wheat, however it’s additionally simpler to search out than tremendous polenta.

If you wish to transcend lemon and discover different citrus, you need to use blood orange, common orange, or Meyer lemon in the identical portions. I significantly love a mixture of lemon and orange zest within the batter as a result of it offers you a sweeter, much less sharp and tart citrus taste.

If you wish to skip the mascarpone topping, the cake additionally works very well when served with a dollop of Greek yogurt on the facet. You possibly can drizzle honey, olive oil, and lemon zest on the yogurt to take care of the wealthy, fruity, tart-sweet flavors. You may also reserve the caramel liquid from sugaring the lemon rinds and drizzle that on the cake.