apricot and rosemary polenta cake

apricot and rosemary polenta cake

• 5 Jan 2026

I'm back with my first bake for 2026. The apricot season is notoriously short in Sydney so I made Nicola Lamb's apricot and rosemary polenta cake before the apricots disappeared for the year.

As I'd made the apricot topping before, it was just the cake batter that was new to me. I've made polenta before and I've made cornmeal cakes before, I've just not combined the 2 before in the one cake.

The original recipe makes an 8 inch cake. Sometimes when you reduce a cake recipe you have to make a few adjustments. I was supposed to use 1 and 1/2 eggs in the batter, and the half an egg thing is the bane of my existence. Usually I separate the egg and use the yolk, then freeze the egg whites but as I was short on eggs, I used one egg and some yoghurt. Otherwise the cake was very easy to put together and in no time at all, the cake was in the oven. My cake took about 10 minutes longer to cook than suggested but that's not unusual for an apricot or plum cake.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17cm cake. For all my recipes, I use a 250 ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon. All eggs are 60 grams and my oven is a conventional oven not fan forced, so you may need to reduce your oven temperature by 20°C.

Apricot and rosemary polenta cake - serves 6
Cake
65g full cream milk
15g polenta or medium cornmeal
50g whole egg (1 egg)

25g Greek yoghurt
75g butter, softened
75g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract
95g ground almonds 
25g medium cornmeal
½ tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp flaky sea salt

Apricot topping

25g butter
25g caster sugar
1 tsp finely chopped rosemary leaves
4 apricots, halved and stoned

To serve 
Crème fraîche or labne

The polenta
Heat the milk to a simmer and add the polenta. Whisk over a medium-low heat until thickened, then continue to whisk for a few minutes until creamy and smooth - taste it and check for hard lumps. Once it is tender, leave to cool. Once cooled, blend the polenta with the egg and yoghurt and set aside.

Apricot topping
Melt the butter, add the sugar and heat until bubbling and browning slightly. Add the rosemary and bubble for 30 seconds or so, then place the apricot halves into the pan, cut-side down. Add the rest of the large pieces of rosemary around the apricots. Cook for 5 minutes over a low heat - check and see if the apricots have coloured a little. The butter/sugar should be dark in spots like a dark caramel. If not, remove the apricots from the pan and cook the caramel for a little longer. Turn off the heat.

Cake
Preheat the oven to 190°C conventional. Line the base and sides of a 17cm cake tin with baking paper.

Cream the butter and sugar together for 2-3 minutes until slightly lightened. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add the eggs/polenta mixture slowly until well combined.

Mix the dry ingredients together - the ground almonds, cornmeal, baking powder and salt - then stir them through the butter/sugar mixture. Pour into the cake tin and smooth out. Nestle the apricots in the batter, cut-side up then pour the rosemary/butter/caramel over the top.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown olden and a skewer inserted will have a few moist crumbs hanging on. Leave to cool in the tin for 10-20 minutes before unmoulding as this is a very tender cake. Serve warm or cold with a spoonful of crème fraîche or labne. The cake will last in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

This cake is delightful. It's tender in the middle and crunchy around the edges. The rosemary combined with the polenta and the tart apricots gives an intriguing savoury note to the cake. The plum season has just begun and I can't wait to make a plum version.

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen. 

Bye for now,

Jillian