Citrus and almonds is a very popular pairing, elevated by the inclusion of ricotta. This gorgeous Lemon Ricotta Cake is living proof of what is truly a delicious matchup.
Citrus and almonds are one of my favorite baking combinations. Add ricotta to the mix and I am sold. I just love the more substantial cake you get when baking with almond meal.
I have been wanting to make this recipe for quite some time. I was also intrigued with the method of making a meringue of the egg whites before adding it to the mixture so needed to try it out.
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Lemon Ricotta Cake with Almonds
Citrus and almonds is a very popular pairing, elevated by the inclusion of ricotta. Lemon Ricotta Cake is proof of this delicious matchup.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Cake, Dessert, Dolci
- Cuisine: American-Italian
Ingredients
Scale
- 120 g 4.2 ounces butter, softened
- 200 g 7 ounces caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup lemon zest
- 4 eggs (separated)
- 240 g 8.5 ounces almond meal
- 300 g 10.6 ounces ricotta
- flaked almonds for decoration
- icing sugar for serving
Instructions
- Heat oven to 180 degrees C (356 degrees F) and line the base and sides of a 20cm (8 inch) round cake tin with baking paper.
- Place 100g (3.5 ounces) of the castor sugar and the lemon zest in a food processor and blitz until finely ground. Then beat the butter, vanilla and sugar/zest mix together for about 10 minutes until pale and creamy.
- Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating the mixture well after each egg yolk is added.
- Add the almond meal and beat to combine and then fold the ricotta through the almond mixture.
- Beat the egg whites in a clean bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining sugar to the egg whites and whisk until stiff peaks have formed. Mix a third of the egg whites into the cake mixture, then gently fold in the rest of the egg white mixture.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin, smooth the top and sprinkle with the almond flakes.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes until cooked and firm to the touch.
- Allow to cool completely in the cake tin before removing.
- Dust with icing sugar to serve.
Keywords: almonds, baking, cake, ricotta
Sounds and looks delicious, and gluten free :)
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love the cake!
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Would be nice if you were to signal a bit earlier in the recipe that the sugar should be divided. I missed that but forged ahead and it came out great, very light, airy and delicious. I screwed up my first attempt at a frangipane a while back so this was my redemption. Definitely worth making again.
So sorry that it was not too clear in the recipe – I will amend it on my side. I am happy the cake turned out great. Regards Hein
Hi, do you think I could bake and freeze this cake a week or 2 before I need to serve it? I often bake and freeze early, but have never tried this with a ricotta based cake mixture. Looks delicious, btw!
Hello Sharmini. Yes I am sure it should be OK. I freeze a lot of cake leftovers and find they tend to taste better then second time around.
Hi Hein!
How many lemons do you think I need for this recipe?
Hello Trudy
It depends on the size but at least 4. It is a lot of lemons but you want that blast of citrus. Enjoy!
Hein
Thanks :)
I bought six, a blast of lemon sounds delicious
I’m actually making it right now. Can’t wait to try!
Hope it was a hit Trudy!
Could I use either all orange zest, or a combination of orange and lemon?
Hello Carol, Yes I think that is a brilliant idea. Some lime or any other citrus would work well too.
Hi there; if I do 1 and1/2 Times the recipe; do I need to cook for longer?
Hello Carol
Yes you would have to. Not sure how much longer so keep testing as it bakes
Regards Hein
This recipe was a hit. Served it for my sons birthday party to freinds from France and they
just loved it. Will definitely make again.
★★★★★
I had to search a bit to find almond meal here in the US, but I did and was excited to make this cake. I weighed each ingredient and followed the recipe exactly (and I am an experienced baker). The cake was a fail. It overflowed my 8″ pan (which I thought might happen so luckily I lined the bottom of the pan with foil to catch any spills) and was still wet in the middle after 60 minutes although the edges were burned. Also, my cake was not yellow in the slightest. It was a brown “Almond” color before and after baking.
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This is delicious! The lightest low carb cake I’ve made! I subbed PYURE ½ cup for the sugar and could have used a tad more but still really good!! Oh and I used 2Tbls bottled lemon juice instead of zest so I know it could be much better than I made it.
★★★★★
Great news! Thank you for letting me know
Excellent cake. Moist and light at the same time. I added the juice of a half lemon to lighten the almond meal mixture. Made it much easier to mix in with the egg whites. Decorate with almond brittle. Stunning.
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So happy to hear!
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Could almond flour be used instead of almond meal? If so, does the weight/amount of almond flour differ from that in the recipe for almond meal? Hoping to make this weekend! Thanks!
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Hi Audra
I haven’t used almond flour before and I would imagine the texture is much finer that almond meal. I am sure you could try but can’t assist you with quantities unfortunately as I haven’t tried it in this recipe before.
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OMG, it’s DELICIOUS, absolutely wonderful, thank you so much for sharing this recipe, lots of love from down under!
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I love this recipe. I think I’ll serve this with lemon semifreddo. If I were to cook this a day in advance. What is the best way to store the cake?
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