Can I Use An Alternative To Sugar For The Lemon Polenta Cake?

Our answer

Nigella's Lemon Polenta Cake (from KITCHEN) is a moist and tender gluten-free cake. The cake batter is made with caster (superfine) sugar and we can't recommend using sweetener as an alternative. As well as adding sweetness to a cake, sugar also helps the cake to turn brown during cooking and holds moisture. Cakes with sweeteners tend to be paler and drier. Sugar also helps with the structure of a cake and as the cake is gluten-free we are concerned that it could end up either rather flat or quite sunken if sweetener is used.

You may be able to use sweetener instead of icing (confectioners') sugar in the syrup, but as you usually use quite different quantities of sweetener vs sugar, there is a risk that there will not be quite enough volume of syrup to soak the cake properly. And as brands vary, unfortunately we can't advise on quantities of sweetener to use.