So sometimes there's ingredients I need to use up. This happens a lot to everyone. Last week I bought a big container of ricotta to make ravioli with. I used about half of the container for a bunch of ravioli and tortellini, but there was still a good amount. I had it it my head to make more ravioli with it but a week went by and although it would be good for awhile I wanted to get it out of the fridge. I've heard of ricotta cake but haven't tried it myself but oh my god it's good.
I really like the lightness of ricotta and pair it with lemon a lot so I figured I'd do a lemon flavor but then decided to add raspberries and do a single layer cake on its own. Well the batter was a little more than I wanted so I ended up with 2 smaller 6-inch rounds and decided to make a small stacked cake. The cake was a little denser than I wanted so to add lightness I did a whipped sweetened mascarpone and finished off that tub from last week as well. Killed two tubs with one cake. This cake turned out pretty fucking good.
Lemon-Raspberry Ricotta Cake with Mascarpone Frosting
300g Ricotta Cheese
115g Unsalted Butter, soft
225g Granulated Sugar
1 ea Lemon, zested
3 ea Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla
2 tbsp Olive Oil
210g AP Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
200g Raspberries
2 tbsp AP Flour
6 oz. Mascarpone Cheese
2 oz. Powdered Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
6 oz. Heavy Whipping Cream
1. In a medium bowl, mix the flour with the salt and baking powder. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, toss the raspberries with 2 tablespoons flour to coat evenly. Set aside.
3. Line the bottom of 2- 6inch cake pans with parchment and spray with pan grease.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter, sugar, and lemon zest for 3-4 minutes.
5. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing full between each and scraping down the bowl as needed.
6. Add the vanilla and olive oil.
7. Add the ricotta and beat until smooth.
8. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
9. Remove bowl from mixer and add the flour coated raspberries, make sure not to add extra flour at bottom of bowl.
10. Fold raspberries into batter.
11. Spread evenly into both pans.
12. Bake in a 350℉ for 55-60 minutes until baked through. Cool before removing from pans.
13. Once cakes are cooled, make the frosting. First, whisk the mascarpone with the powdered sugar and vanilla.
14. In a separate bowl, whisk the cream to soft peaks.
15. Fold the cream into the mascarpone. Layer in between cakes and stack on a plate.
16. Refrigerate finished cake for 30 minutes to set frosting before serving.
So this all started with ricotta needing to be used. I took a vanilla cake recipe and started by removing some butter and the milk to replace with the ricotta. I also substitute a small amount of butter for olive oil for a richer flavor that would complement the overall flavor profile. As for the lemon flavor I just added zest to the creamed butter and sugar. I've done this before and it adds a lot of flavor. The creaming will grind down the sugar and help release all the lemon oil in the zest to get the flavor across.
After I had a recipe that looked decent I scaled it to the amount of ricotta I had. As for the raspberries, that was just a guess plus I always add a lot of fruit when I use them. I used frozen for this recipe since they are always in my freezer and in the long run I use frozen fruit mostly. They are always cheaper unless in season and are always really good in flavor. I find people tend to be worried about it but professionally speaking there isn't much wrong with frozen fruits.
The cake I was hoping for a single 8-inch layer but once I made it I felt that 2 6-inch would be better. Even after filling I questioned if they would work well but they turned out really well. The cake fills the pan and domes just over it. Once baked it flattens slightly and creates a nice even layer that is perfect.
Once the cakes are cooled I did a simple frosting. At first I thought about leaving the sides alone but once stacked some frosting came out and I needed to fix it and that lead to a naked cake. But I love naked cakes so I don't give a fuck with this small change. Once put together you need to refrigerate this cake. I didn't. And it was soft and difficult to cut. The cake started sliding and lose it's shape. After a quick trip to the fridge the mascarpone and cream firm up and make it a lot easier to cut and move around.
Like I said, this cake was pretty good. For sometime just to get rid of an ingredients I'm very happy with the results. I highly suggest trying this recipe out for yourself. You can easily take out the raspberries or lemon if you don't like them. Even substitute them with another fruit. I think apricots or peaches would also be very good in this recipe. If you try something different leave a comment and let me know! Until then...
-Harry
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