Blueberry Polenta Upside-Down Cake
Updated May 11, 2025
Julia Gartland for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne.
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
Vegetable oil for greasing pan
1 ⅓ cup sugar, divided
3 cups blueberries
2 large eggs
Finely grated zest of 1 large orange
⅔ cup orange juice
⅔ cup olive oil (not extra virgin) or sunflower oil
½ cup regular or instant polenta
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
Nutritional analysis per serving (9 to 12 servings)
46 grams carbs; 31 milligrams cholesterol; 327 calories; 7 grams monosaturated fat; 5 grams polyunsaturated fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 15 grams fat; 2 grams fiber; 171 milligrams sodium; 3 grams protein; 29 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and line base and sides of a 9-inch-square cake pan with baking parchment, and grease the parchment. Sprinkle ⅓ cup sugar over base of pan, and cover evenly with blueberries.
- Step 2
In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs, 1 cup sugar and orange zest. Whisk until pale and thick. Add orange juice and oil, and whisk until blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together polenta, flour, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture to egg mixture, whisking until smooth. Pour into prepared pan.
- Step 3
Bake for about 45 to 55 minutes, until golden brown and springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool cake on a rack for about 5 minutes. Carefully invert cake onto a serving plate, and slowly peel off parchment paper. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Private Notes
Comments
I was determined to use what I had. So I substituted frozen blueberries, butter and grapeseed oil, and whole wheat ffour and corn flour. I cut the formula in half and used a small, round cast iron pan because that's all I had. I also forgot the wax paper, and probably overcooked it given the halved formula. And it still turned out very well. This is a forgiving, hard-to-screw-up formula/recipe.
Why do you stipulate olive oil, not Virgin olive oil for this recipe?
I substituted the zest of 2 lemons for the orange zest, and also added a sprinkling of lemon zest to the blueberries themselves. This is insanely delicious. I disagree with reviewers who find it too sweet, I would say it's not very sweet at all, perfect for breakfast or tea. Fine-ground cornmeal works best; stone-ground will leave a few crunchy bits. I've used several different kinds of oil, I honestly don't think it matters much. Finally, this cake is best the next day.
This recipe is foolproof. I had no orange juice when I decided to make one evening and had only one pint of blueberries. I used the pint, reduced the sugar only in batter by 1/4 cup, substituted OJ (in desperation) with 100% pomegranate juice from Trader Joe’s, zest of 1/2 lemon, hint of almond extract and voila. It was incredible. Even better the next day.
Cut ⅓ of the sugar. Could cut the sugar in the cake more.
Reduced the sugar in both steps, mostly as my family likes things on the less sweeter side, and it was fine. A couple of dollops of butter with the blueberries, added some lemon zest in with the berries. Used lemon juice in lieu of orange as I didn't have any, added a bit of water to get to the right ratio. Used stoneground cornmeal as it is what we used for just about anything calling for polenta. Cooked in my grandmother's 10" cast iron skillet- all in all it came out perfect!