Lemon Ricotta Cake

You’ll love this buttery and moist Lemon Ricotta Cake made with fresh lemons. Dusted with powdered sugar and topped with mascarpone cream and raspberries, it’s the perfect lemon dessert. 

Lemon + ricotta = a match made in heaven 💕

It takes a lot for me to steer away from chocolate-covered desserts, but if there’s one dessert that can make me do it, it’s this gorgeous Lemon Ricotta Cake.

With a soft, buttery texture and a rich lemon flavour, it’s my new go-to dessert.

I’m proud of this cake. It took me a little while to get it just right but it has made me fall more and more in love with lemon desserts.

Not only is it lovely and sweet, but it’s very simple to make too.

You only need a handful of ingredients, but it’s the fresh lemons and creamy ricotta that changes everything. It creates a dense cake, with an enviable texture – not too wet but not dry.

To serve, you can simply dust the cake with powdered sugar, add a few fresh berries and a generous dollop of mascarpone cream. Heaven.

While I’ll always love a good chocolate cake or a slice of peanut butter cheesecake, this lovely Lemon Ricotta Cake is now on serious rotation in my house.

It’s also the perfect dessert for entertaining because you can easily make it ahead of time. In fact, it might even be nicer on day two.

Tips for making Ricotta Cake

• This cake has the tendency to stick to the pan, so make sure you grease the sides of your cake tin well with butter and line the bottom with baking or parchment paper.
• Adding fresh lemon juice means the cake batter might look a little curdled, but it’s totally fine.
• This cake is moist and dense, so it won’t rise as much as a regular cake. You can tell it’s ready by inserting a skewer into the centre, it should come out clean.
• Leave the cake to cool completely in the cake tin as it will be quite fragile when warm.

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Let's Bake

Lemon Ricotta Cake

Yield Serves 10 1x

1x2x3x

★★★★★

4.9 from 26 reviews

Prep: 30 minutesCook: 35 minutesTotal: 1 hour 5 minutes

A moist and dense Lemon Ricotta Cake made with fresh lemons.

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Ingredients

Lemon ricotta cake

• 115 grams (1/2 cup or 1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 150 grams (3/4 cup) caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 140 grams (1 cup) plain flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 250 grams (1 cup) ricotta
• 60 ml (1/4 cup) milk

Mascarpone cream

• 240 ml (1 cup) thickened or heavy cream
• 120 ml (1/2 cup) mascarpone
• Icing sugar or powdered sugar, to serve
• Fresh raspberries, to serve

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F) standard / 160 C (320 F) fan-forced. Grease an 8-inch round cake tin with butter and line the bottom with parchment or baking paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add butter, sugar and vanilla and beat with an electric mixer until pale and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until combined.
3. Add lemon juice, lemon zest, flour, baking powder and ricotta and beat on a low speed. Add milk and beat briefly until combined. Cake batter may be lumpy and curdled but this is totally fine.
4. Pour batter into prepared cake pan and place in the oven for approximately 30-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Leave cake to cool completely in cake pan.
5. Add cream and mascarpone to a mixing bowl and beat using an electric mixer for a couple of minutes or until thickened.
6. To serve, dust cake with icing sugar. Cut into small slices and serve with mascarpone cream and fresh raspberries.

Nutrition Information

Serving Size: 1 slice Calories: 283 (cake only)

Author: Jessica HolmesCategory: DessertCuisine: Italian

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