Lemon Ricotta Cake
Simple and delicious, change it to suit what you have, could be orange or even mandarin. Buy nice fresh ricotta. This cake can be glazed with lemon or chocolate .
Ingredients
Cake
- 200 ml oil 3/4 cup
- 2 whole eggs large
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest finely grated
- 40 ml lemon Juice 2 tablespoons
- 250 gm fresh ricotta
- 350 gm caster sugar 1 3/4 cup
- 300 gm plain flour 2 cups
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
Lemon glaze
- 40 ml lemon Juice
- 200 gm icing sugar 1 cup
Chocolate Glaze- for alternative
- 100 gm dark chocolate chopped
- 60 ml cream
Ricotta Cream
- 250 gm ricotta
- 1 tablespoon pure icing sugar sifted
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 250 gm cream full fat or thickened (1 cup)
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 170 deg C or around 340 F. Spray and line a 20-24 cm round tin or a bundt tin. The smaller tin will make a deeper cake.
- Put the ricotta, eggs, oil, zest, juice and sugar into a bowl and mix with a whisk to break up the cheese and combine everything. it will look thick and smooth with a few ricotta lumps here and there.
- Set the whisk aside. Mix the flour and baking powder together well then fold this into the ricotta mixture with a spatula.
- Pour into the prepared cake tin and bake 50- 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. The baking time will vary depending on your oven.
To make the lemon glaze.
- Put 1 tablespoon of juice into a bowl then sift over the icing sugar and mix till smooth. Use the additional juice if you would like a slightly thinner icing. But be careful, it's best to mix and stand as the sugar keeps absorbing the juice.
chocolate glaze.
- Heat the cream in a small pot, till very hot but not boiling Take off the heat and add the chopped chocolate, and stir till smooth.
Ricotta Cream
- Put the cream, ricotta, icing sugar and vanilla into the bowl of a mixer and beat till light and fluffy and soft peaks form. Chill for 10 minutes before using. Cut the cake in half and fill with the ricotta. Spread the lemon glaze on the top.
Notes
Use nice fresh creamy ricotta
Add 1 teaspoon vanilla for extra flavour if you like
Mix the wet ingredients and flavours together well before adding the flour
Overmixing the cake once the flour is added can make it a bit tough, so once the flour is added FOLD it through
If your cake cooks too quickly on the top cover with foil.
The baking time will vary depending on your oven. A fan forced oven will be the quickest. A lower temperature of 160 C would also work for this kind of oven. Use a skewer in the middle after 40 minutes to test if it come s out clean. Then test again at 10 minute intervals. Do not be afraid to give the sides of this cake a little bit of a scrape with a knife if it colours a little too much for you. Just like toast it will lighten up and present well.
Add 1 teaspoon vanilla for extra flavour if you like
Mix the wet ingredients and flavours together well before adding the flour
Overmixing the cake once the flour is added can make it a bit tough, so once the flour is added FOLD it through
If your cake cooks too quickly on the top cover with foil.
The baking time will vary depending on your oven. A fan forced oven will be the quickest. A lower temperature of 160 C would also work for this kind of oven. Use a skewer in the middle after 40 minutes to test if it come s out clean. Then test again at 10 minute intervals. Do not be afraid to give the sides of this cake a little bit of a scrape with a knife if it colours a little too much for you. Just like toast it will lighten up and present well.