Friday, April 24, 2009

Ricotta cake


There is no need for me to lose many words about this ricotta cake. It is simple, unpretentious and delicious. I love it for breakfast, as a snack, with my tea in the afternoon and at any other time of the day, and I think you will, too. There are only two things you should know:

1 - You have to be serious about creaming eggs and sugar or the cake won't rise. To be on the safe side, you might want to separate the eggs and fold the whipped egg whites into the batter alternating with the flour. Then again, you might not, because why dirty two bowls if you can get away with dirtying one and anyway, you live live dangerously. I do, and I'm no friend of washing up, which is why my cake is just a tiny bit on the soft side on the bottom as you can see in the picture.

2 - This cake looks very innocent but you don't want to get fresh with it, adding apples, chocolate chunks or nuts etc. A small handfull of raisins is all that it can handle. Otherwise, the cake won't bake but turn into a sorry, solid, doughy block. The Husband ate a large piece of solidified cake batter with chocolate once and said he liked it, but his judgement is clouded when it comes to food containing chocolate.

Ricotta cake

  • 190g sugar
  • 1 tub soft ricotta (250g)
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons plain yoghurt
  • 200g plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
  • some vanilla extract or grated lemon peel
Preheat the oven to 180°. Cream the eggs and sugar together for a few minutes until the mixture is very thick and lightly-coloured. Best use one of those nifty hand-held blenders with whisks for that or get ready for a little workout. Sorry, but this step is vital, see point 1 above. Add the ricotta and yoghurt and mix well, then mix in the vanilla extract or grated lemon peel. Sift the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda together and fold into the ricotta mixture. Add a little more flour if the batter seems too thin. Pour the batter into a small baking tin (roughly 23 cm diameter round or a 20x20cm square tin) which you've buttered and lined with greaseproof paper. Bake for about twenty minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean. Turn onto a wired rack to cool.

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