At the time of writing, the UK – and most of the world – is under lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic. This has caused a shortage of certain food items in some places, and one of the big ones is flour! People have either turned to baking their own food or using the opportunity to learn to bake. Either way, getting hold of flour is a challenge. While I have been fortunate enough to have flour for the majority of lockdown, that doesn’t mean I don’t want to find alternatives to using flour – not only will be useful for myself and others, it’s also great for those who need gluten-free alternatives!
While rummaging around my cupboards, I happened upon both a packet of polenta and some ground almonds, so I thought “I can do something with those!” The only thing was – I’d never made a cake with a Polenta before, so this was a bit of an experiment. But I wasn’t going to be deterred! So I made this cake up on the fly, and… it turned out really well! While slightly grainier than a regular cake, it came out as a very light, very moist cake which is super chocolatey! It’s definitely worth making whether you have flour or not.
Chocolate Polenta Cake
Print RecipeIngredients
- 175g Polenta
- 100g Ground Almonds
- 50g Cocoa Powder
- 250g Butter, softened
- 250g Caster Sugar
- 3 x Eggs
- 2 Tsp Baking Powder
- 50ml Coffee
- 1 Tbsp Milk
- 100g Chocolate Chips
Instructions
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.
Place the softened butter and caster sugar into a bowl and beat together until fluffier and paler in colour.
Crack in each egg - one at a time - until completely combined and the mixture is smooth and creamy.
Next, add in the polenta, ground almonds, and cocoa powder and beat into the mixture until well combined.
Add in the coffee and milk, and mix into the cake batter.
Add in the chocolate chips, then fold well into the batter until they're all distributed well throughout the batter.
Line and grease a cake tin, then transfer the batter into the tin and and smooth out the top.
Place into the oven and bake for 45 - 50 minutes or until the cake is cooked through - you can tell by poking in a skewer and have it come out clean.
Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes and then transfer out of the tin onto a cooling rack and leave to cool completely.
