Well, well, well. Look who's back online. Yes, it's me, I know you almost forgot about me but lately I've been trying to enjoy the IRL. That means traveling, dating (not too much), working and all the good things you can do when your laptop is turned off.
I forgot to mention baking, but you can see by the title of this post that I've been doing quite a lot of that as well. Precisely, I've been testing new easy glutenfree recipes with affordable and easy to use flours and ingredients and that's how I found my new baking obsession: polenta flour!
Yes, corn semolina, the most basic and traditional of the starches. Not only it is cheap and easy to find basically everywhere, but it's also super easy to use and saves you from adding tons of additives to your mixtures to thicken them up.

So here's two very simple recipe, one is the super delicious base, the other is the carrot cake version of the first. I hope you'll enjoy baking (and eating) them as much as I do... Here we go!





















Polenta cake - basic ingredients:

300g polenta flour
200ml water
150ml coconut milk (or regular milk, almond milk or similar)
3 eggs (size M/L)
150g sugar
300g ricotta
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch salt

The first step is going to be making the actual polenta. In a tall pan, mix milk and water and bring to a boil, then add the polenta flour and mix for 7/8 minutes until firm. Set aside to rest and chill.
In a large bowl, mix the eggs, the ricotta, the sugar, the salt and the vanilla extract to a creamy texture. When chilled, add the polenta to the mixture and beat with an electric whisker.
Butter and flour a baking tin, pour the mixture and bake for approximately 30 mins at 200° C.

Carrot polenta cake:

Use the basic polenta cake recipe, but before pouring into the tin, you can add to the mixture:
- 3 finely shredded carrots
- almonds and hazelnuts finely chopped
- a tablespoon of orange or lemon juice
- lemon and orange zest

The texture will be a little softer since the carrots will make the mixture a little moister, so leave it in the oven for 10 more minutes, until completely cooked through.

For the toppings, I have used a mix of soft cheese and melted dark chocolate for the basic cake and a mix of soft cheese, sugar, and limoncello for the carrot cake, but feel free to use the one you prefer or to leave them without any topping at all.

Super easy right?