I’ve been dreaming of this polenta cake with citrus glaze for months, ever since I stumbled across the recipe on the delightful blog, Journey of an Italian Cook. That was just around the time our kitchen remodel began so I’ve been putting off preparing it. Well, the wait is over and I can tell you, just as Claudia writes in her story, this cake is mesmerizing.

polenta cake with citrus glaze

Heguiberto is a real fan of any corn-cake and I love glazes, so this one truly is a match made in heaven.

I didn’t have any oranges as is called for in the original recipe (we’d just squeezed them all into juice). And I ended up using three Mexican limes, which are smaller than “conventional” ones. They were hard to zest, but worth it. I made about half the amount of glaze than was recommended. Claudia got me thinking that it was easy to overdo it. Also I didn’t use the spring form pan (I always struggle with those). Instead I tried a round glass baking dish which I lined with wax paper. The cake came out quite easily.

But unfortunately, it fell in the middle. This worried me a bit, especially after I applied the glaze and it pooled in the center excessively. Fortunately, the cake was fairly dry so absorbed it. I had missed the direction about sifting the powdered sugar for the glaze so mine was lumpy. To cover that I sifted more sugar over the whole thing before serving.

It was a huge success! My charming dinner guests didn’t even mind that the cake fell. To them it seems it felt more authentically homemade. What wonderful guests!

polenta cake with citrus glaze

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup instant polenta
2 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 lemon
3 Mexican limes
¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup confectioner’s sugar (sifted)

Preheat oven to 325F.

Zest citrus.

Mix flour, polenta, baking powder, and salt together.

In another bowl, beat eggs and sugar together for about three or four minutes on medium high until they triple in volume. Mix in zest. In an alternating fashion, add dry mix then olive oil into beaten eggs. Blend until just moist.

Line baking dish with wax paper and pour batter into dish (about 9 inch round). Bake 30 to 40 minutes until slightly golden and surface of cake becomes firm. Remove from oven and allow to cool at least 15 minutes. Gently remove from baking dish and peel off paper.

Squeeze citrus into small bowl with confectioner’s sugar. Mix to combine. Pour glaze over cake. Dust with more sugar just before serving.