Type Of Polenta

Our answer

Nigella's Lemon Polenta Cake (from KITCHEN) is a gluten-free cake made with fine polenta and ground almonds (almond meal/almond flour). The polenta should be a fine grind. Unfortunately we would not recommend using quick cook (or instant) polenta as this is usually made with polenta that has been pre-cooked, dried and then ground to a fine powder. It means that the liquid absorbtion of quick cook polenta will be different to that of fine ground polenta and the texture of the cake will be different.

It may be worth looking for fine cornmeal instead of fine polenta. They are both made from ground maize and for this recipe they are interchangeable. In the UK and the US it should be possible to find fine cornmeal in larger supermarkets. Otherwise you can find fine cornmeal on-line. However, avoid buying masa harina (a type of maize flour used for tortillas) as the corn has been treated, dried and then ground to a fine flour and is not suitable for the cake.