Juliet Sear's flourless lemon drizzle cake

Wednesday 15 April at 11:53am

First it was eggs, now it’s flour. So if you’ve got the baking bug but the supermarket shelf is empty, don’t worry as Juliet Sear has a solution with her flourless lemon drizzle cake

No flour? No problem!

Juliet says: This delicious zingy cake is made using ground almonds and polenta rather than flour. It has a lovely moist crumb, and it’s naturally gluten free too.

Ingredients

175g butter, softened

150g caster sugar (I like to use golden)

Zest of 2 lemons, plus the juice of one

1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract

3 medium free-range eggs

150g ground almonds

80g polenta

1 tsp baking powder (*use gluten free if you are making this for someone who is gluten intolerant)

For the drizzle

Juice of 1 lemon

30ml water

75g golden caster sugar

For the icing (optional)

125g icing sugar

30ml lemon juice

Extra lemon zest, yellow sprinkles or edible flowers (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/160C Fan/350F/Gas 4. Grease, base and side line a 9” round cake tin.
Beat the sugar and butter together in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment until light and fluffy, add the vanilla, lemon zest and juice, and then beat in the eggs one at a time
Dry whisk together the dry ingredients to distribute everything evenly, then fold into the wet mix
Spoon the mixture into the tin and spread it out evenly with a pallet knife or the back of a spoon
Place in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes until the cake is fully cooked and a skewer comes out clean from the centre of the cake when you test it
While the cake is baking make the drizzle, in a saucepan heat the sugar, lemon and water up, stirring well until dissolved. Allow the mix to boil for a couple of minutes and reduce slightly. Set aside until needed.
Leave the cake to cool for a few minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack set over a tray or something to catch any drips, then spear all over the cake with a cocktail stick or skewer, and soak over with the drizzle while the sponge is lovely and warm so it soaks it all in
This cake is lovely served as it is, but if you want to make it look pretty, make the glaze icing by mixing the icing sugar and lemon juice together until smooth. Drizzle it all over the cake and if you want to add some colour you can add more lemon zest, some sprinkles or edible flowers. The cake will last for 3 days, or you can freeze it for up to a month.