Summer
Year Round
Recipes
Eggs
Puddings
Cakes
Ricotta cake with lemon and pine nuts
Ricotta replaces butter in this cake, and adds moisture, which keeps it tasting fresh for a few days. It is just as good eaten for breakfast with some strong coffee as it is at teatime or for pudding; I like this sort of versatility with summer recipes. To embellish it as a dessert, try serving with figs, nectarines or peaches and a dollop of crème fraiche.
Using ricotta and olive oil instead of butter gives this cake a particularly soft and good lasting texture.
Ingredients
Serves 6
- 3 eggs
- 80g caster sugar
- 230g ricotta
- 1 unwaxed lemon, zest and juice
- 4tbsp olive oil
- 170g plain flour
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1tsp baking powder
- pinch of fine sea salt
- 4tbsp pinenuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C
- Lightly oil a non-stick loaf tin (or line with baking paper if it isn’t non-stick)
- Whisk the eggs and the sugar together (using an electric mixer if you have one) until very light and fluffy and increased in volume by at least a third.
- In another bowl, beat the ricotta, lemon zest and juice and oil until smooth.
- Add this to the eggs and beat to combine fully.
- Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl and stir to distribute well.
- Fold this into the egg mixture and pour into the loaf tin.
- Scatter pine nuts all over the top and lightly press them into the batter.
This recipe previously appeared in House & Garden magazine July 2018 issue
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