Sicilian Lemon Polenta Pound Cake

Catherine Newman, author of We All Want Impossible Things, has shared her delectable recipe for this Sicilian Lemon Polenta Pound Cake with us. We're delighted to let you all in on the secret, too!

Here it is! The holy grail of cakes! And it’s so lovely and moist and lemony that it doesn’t even need a lemon drizzle—though who knows what Edi would say.

• 1 cup whole-milk ricotta, room temperature
• 1 cup white sugar
• Grated zest of 1 large lemon
• ½ cup butter (I use salted), melted and cooled slightly
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• ¾ cup instant polenta or medium-grind cornmeal
• ¾ cup almond flour (or all-purpose flour)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (or ½ teaspoon table salt)
• Icing sugar (optional)
• Candied lemon slice (see below—but these are fully optional)

Heat the oven to 350 F / 180 C. Grease a round 9-inch (24-cm) springform cake tin and line the bottom with parchment paper. (This is easy to do if you remember to trace the bottom of the tin before you’ve greased it, and less easy to do afterwards.)

In a stand mixer or with a sturdy wooden spoon, beat the ricotta, sugar, and lemon zest until smooth. 

Add the butter and beat again until smooth, then add the eggs one at a time and—say it with me—beat until smooth.

Whisk together the dry ingredients, then add these to the mixing bowl in two or 3 additions, beating until just mixed.

Scrape the batter into the prepared tin and bake until the top is golden and the cake is springy when you poke it and you get an all-around fully-baked vibe from it, around 35-40 minutes. A toothpick or cake tester poked into the center should come out clean.

Cool on a wire rack before sifting a bit of icing sugar around the outer edge and topping with the fancy but optional candied lemon slices.

Candied Lemon Slices

Cut the ends off of 1 large, firm, attractive lemon and squeeze any juice out of them into a wide pot. Add 1 cup of water and 1 cup of white sugar to the pot and bring to a boil over medium heat. Meanwhile, slice the rest of the lemon as thin as you can without cutting your whole hand off in the process. Add the lemon slices to the boiling pot, turn the heat down a bit, and simmer for 15 minutes, turning them over every now and then to keep yourself occupied. Fish the lemon slices out and cool on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Note that now you have a lemony kind of syrup and wonder if you could make a cocktail out of it. (You could!)

Now that you've baked your cake, why not pre-order the book that inspired the recipe? We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman hits shelves on 15 November 2022 and pairs perfectly with this sweet treat.