Can I Make The Lemon Polenta Cake In A Food Processor?

Our answer

Nigella's Lemon Polenta Cake (from KITCHEN) is a zesty gluten-free cake. The cake is usually made by first creaming the butter and sugar together to incorporate some air. This is an important step as the air helps the cake to rise, along with the baking powder. Without this step the cake could have a slightly denser texture, so creaming the butter and sugar is our preferred method.

With a food processor all-in-one method for cakes, this creaming step is omitted. Usually in this situation a little extra baking powder is added to the cake batter to give a little extra lift. However, as the cake is gluten free and there is no gluten structure to set and trap the air bubbles, there is a risk that too much extra baking powder will cause the cake to rise up a lot in the oven and then sink dramatically on cooling. So we don't think that adding extra baking powder will be particularly helpful and if you do use a food processor for making the Lemon Polenta Cake then just bear in mind that the cake could be a little denser.