Almond Polenta Zucchini Cake {Gluten-Free}

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This gluten-free Zucchini Cake with Almond and Polenta is tasty, simple to make and comes together with pantry staple ingredients. This Lemon Courgette cake makes a great for a tea time treat and an easy dessert too. Suitable for people following a gluten-free diet.

A courgette cake with coffee and syrup on a table

Hey guys, welcome to bake day Friday on which I am serving up this Zucchini Cake with almonds and polenta. An abundance of courgettes, surplus lemons from some raspberry lemonade and some half-spilt polenta all whizzed up and baked into the magic that is this cake.

This Lemon Zucchini Cake is crumbly yet moist, incredibly citrusy and flavourful. This is certainly my new favourite cake in this kitchen. All the sweeter for the ease of making.

This cake is for people who have a gazillion courgettes but don’t really know what to do with them. Especially if you have the slightly larger courgettes that you prefer not to cook with. The bonus is that this is a courgette cake without flour so suitable for serving to your gluten-free guests.

But before we dive into the best Courgette Cake recipe ever, let’s talk tools.

Zucchini Cake Tools

KITCHEN TOOLS, UTENSILS & APPLIANCES  NEEDED

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, check out my disclosure.

Here are some of the items you will need to make this Courgette Cake.

a gluten-free courgette cake on a table with slices cut out

How To Make Zucchini Cake

  1. Preheat the oven and line and grease your cake tin.
  2. Add the butter and sugar into a bowl and beat with a hand mixer until light and fluffy.
  3. In another bowl combine the ground almonds, polenta and baking powder.
  4. Slowly beat one egg, followed by some of the almond mixture into butter-sugar mixture, and continue beating in alternating the egg and dry ingredients until done.
  5. Then beat in the lemon zest, lemon juice and courgette before scraping the cake batter into the cake tin and bake in the oven for about 40 mins until a skewer comes out clean.
  6. Leave the zucchini cake to cool in the tin before removing and serving.

Gluten Free Courgette Cake Tips

  • Do make sure to squeeze out all the liquid from the grated zucchini, otherwise, you will end up with a wetter mixture that will take a little longer to cook.
  • You can swap out the lemon for some lime instead.
  • If you prefer to make this a Courgette Cake with walnuts, then simply add in a large handful of walnuts when adding the batter to the cake tin.
  • To make this a Courgette Cake with sultanas, add a large handful of sultanas. You can use currants or raisins instead.

Dressing your Lemon Courgette Cake

This almond polenta lemon courgette cake is naked. Naked as in none of the Lemon drizzle syrup that usually accompanies almond polenta cakes. The courgettes and the lemon juice are more than enough. I prefer it plain. It really works. But if you really crave the lemony syrup then there are a million and one recipes on the internet that show you how to do so. Maybe, try it both with and without and make up your own mind.

Courgette Cake With Cream Cheese Icing

If you prefer to make this a courgette cake with cream cheese icing then you can do so easily

Chocolate Courgette Cake

Making this into a chocolate courgette cake is super easy. Simply mix in 3-4 tbsp of cocoa powder and a couple of handful of chocolate chips. You can even make a chocolate frosting to top it all off.

Zucchini cake recipe slices with coffee and syrup

Can You Freeze Zucchini Cake?

Yes, you can certainly freeze Courgette Cake.  All the more reason to whip up an extra cake or two when you have a glut of courgettes. Just make sure to freeze it without any toppings or sauces and freeze for up to a month. Otherwise, you can store it in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

Why put Courgette in Cake

If you are wondering why put courgette in cake, courgette makes the cake moister, less dense and lower in calories.

More Zucchini Recipes

Before I forget if you like courgettes then why not try these below.

Instant Pot Vegetable Soup With Courgette.

Courgetti With Coconut Milk and Sundried Tomatoes.

Roasted courgette recipe.

Skinny gluten free  Zucchini Muffins

Close up of a lemon courgette cake recipe with some sliced out

More Cake Recipes

For more cakes try these below

Cassava Cake Recipe.

Passionfruit Bundt cake with Passionfruit Syrup. 

Fig and Semolina Cake.

Berry, Orange Blossom and Elderflower Cake with Mascarpone Whipped Cream.

Cucumber Cake from Veggie Desserts.

Plenty of choices there for you.

Life and More

I am a planner.

Everything from recipes to the kids needs, from travel plans to receipts, from SEO to keywords. The small stuff really. Then the big stuff. The life-changing decisions that leave me crippled with indecision and sleeplessness as I yo-yo between this choice and that. The days when I wish I can rewind back to my teenage self, where my parents made the decisions, and life was much easier (although sometimes much contested).

One of my goals is to plan a little less and live in the moment a little more. For everything. For the little moments, for the beautiful Saturday morning that results in dropped plans and a day wave splashing and pebble skimming. Best days. And definitely for the recipes. I spend a lot of time planning. And thinking. And rethinking.

So was super pleased to whip up this Zucchini Cake with little or no planning. Here is to less planning and more fun

Thank you for reading this gluten-free almond polenta Zucchini cake recipe post. And please come visit again as I continue dreaming up recipes, African recipes, Sierra Leone recipes, travel plans and much more for you. Thanks for visiting Recipes from a Pantry, UK food blog.

Get The Zucchini Cake Recipe

Don't forget to tag #recipesfromapantry on Instagram or Twitter if you try Almond Polenta Courgette Cake! It is really, really awesome for me when you make one of my recipes and I'd love to see it. You can also share it on my Facebook page. Please pin this recipe to Pinterest too! Thank you for reading Recipes from a Pantry.

A courgette cake with coffee and syrup on a table
Print Recipe
5 from 9 votes

Almond Polenta Courgette Cake

Courgette Almond Polenta Cake
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time40 minutes
Total Time50 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American, Western
Servings: 16
Calories: 240kcal
Author: Bintu Hardy

Ingredients

  • Courgette Almond Polenta Cake
  • 200 g (7oz) butter, softened
  • 175 g (6.2oz) caster sugar
  • 200 g (7oz) ground almonds
  • 100 g (3.5oz) fine polenta
  • 1.5 tsp gluten-free baking powder
  • 3 eggs
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 3.5 tbsp lemon juice
  • 250 g (8.8oz) roughly grated courgette (zucchini), all the liquid squeezed out.

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to fan-assisted 160C / 180C / 350F / gas 4 and line and grease a 23cm / 9inch spring form cake tin.
  • Add the butter and sugar into a bowl and beat with a hand mixer until light and fluffy.
  • In another bowl combine the ground almonds, polenta and baking powder.
  • Slowly beat one egg, followed by some of the almond mixture in to butter-sugar mixture, and continue beating in alternating the egg and dry ingredients until done.
  • Then beat in the lemon zest, lemon juice and courgette before scraping the cake batter into the cake tin and bake in the oven for about 40 mins until a skewer comes out clean.
  • Leave the cake to cool in the tin before removing and serving.
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Notes

Adapted from the Lemon Polenta Cake from Nigela Lawson.

Can You Freeze Courgette Cake?

Yes, you can certainly freeze Courgette Cake.  All the more reason to whip up an extra cake or two when you have a glut of courgettes. Just make sure to freeze it without any toppings or sauces and freeze for up to a month. Otherwise, you can store it in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

More Courgette Recipes

Before I forget if you like courgettes then why not try these below.
Instant Pot Vegetable Soup With Courgette.
Courgetti With Coconut Milk and Sundried Tomatoes.
Roasted courgette recipe.
Skinny gluten free  Zucchini Muffins

Nutrition

Calories: 240kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 57mg | Sodium: 102mg | Potassium: 67mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 400IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 36mg | Iron: 0.7mg

 

 

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16 Comments

  1. Made it last night and it’s delicious! But you can skip a meal after you had a piece. Love it!

  2. Wow, that is such a lovely polenta cake. Love the flavor of lemon in there. Amazing clicks.

  3. I never tried a polenta cake, and this one looks gorgeous and appetizing. A must try for me, thanks for sharing the recipe.