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Pistachio and polenta cake

April 06 2022 6 min read

Food and travel blogger Coralie, who has a passion for wholesome and hearty cooking, is originally from France but currently resides in London. Here she shares her recipe for a delicious and light polenta and pistachio cake. Though the ingredients below includes of plain flour, you can always use rice flour for a gluten-free version.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CAKE: 

  • 150g unsalted butter
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • Zest and juice of a lime
  • 100g ready-made polenta
  • 150g ground pistachio
  • 30g ground almond
  • 40g flour (plain or rice flour)
  • 1 tsp baking powder (normal or gluten free)
  • 1 tsp Greek yoghurt

FOR THE TOPPING:

  • 200g Greek yoghurt
  • Zest of one lime

FOR THE SYRUP (SHOULD YOU WANT TO INDULGE): 

  • 15ml elderflower cordial
  • A teaspoon of honey
  • Juice of one lime

METHOD FOR THE CAKE: 

  1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Grease and line the base and sides of a 20cm cake tin.
  2. In a bowl, mix the butter and sugar until light and pale yellow.
  3. Add the eggs one by one and whisk.
  4. Then add the ground pistachio, ground almond, lime zest, lemon juice, yoghurt, flour, baking powder and mix until you have a smooth texture.
  5. Bake at 180ºC for 50 minutes.
  6. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a rack for 10 minutes

METHOD FOR THE SYRUP (OPTIONAL, IF YOU WISH TO INDULGE):  

  1. In a saucepan, mix the honey, lemon juice and elderflower cordial.
  2. Bring to the boil, leave to simmer for 5 minutes and then set aside to cool.
  3. Once the cake has cooled, use skewers to make a few holes on its surface and pour the syrup over (how much is up to you).
  4. Top with the Greek yoghurt icing (see below).

 METHOD FOR THE TOPPING:  

  1. Mix the Greek yogurt with the lemon zest.
  2. Leave in the fridge until the cake has cooled and is ready to be iced.
  3. Decorate! I used edible flowers and chopped pistachios as decoration, however raspberries add a wonderful contrast in colour and a lovely juiciness. Basil leaves too are a lovely touch too.

YOU CAN READ MORE FROM CORALIE ON HER BLOG OR FOLLOW HER ON INSTAGRAM AT @CHOCORALIE.