Lemon or Orange Ricotta Cake

Adapted from a recipe by Deborah Mele of ItalianFoodForever

This is a very straightforward recipe with more ricotta and less flour than other recipes. I used King Arthur gluten-free flour and zest of two oranges, but it would be even better with zest of three oranges. I used Galbani whole milk ricotta, which is very firm and can be sliced.  If you have a very wet ricotta, let it drain in a sieve for 20 minutes. The cake is good on its own, but I also served it with an orange maple butter sauce as well as sliced cara cara oranges in simple syrup with orange liqueur.  My husband thought the texture was similar to a dense cheesecake, while I thought it was a cross between dense cheesecake and a pound cake.

Ricotta Cake

Ingredients

Makes 8 portions

• 1½ sticks (6 oz., 168 g.) soft butter
• ¾ cup (6 oz., 168 g.) sugar
• Zest from 3 large oranges. If using lemons, 2 lemons gave nice lemon background, but 3 lemons might be too tangy.
• 2 tsp. almond extract
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 1 cup (8 oz., 224 g.) full-fat or whole milk ricotta
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• ½ cup (2½ oz.) 1-to-1 gluten-free flour. I used King Arthur gluten-free flour, which is a standard rice flour, potato starch and tapioca starch blend.

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. Lightly grease a 9” springform pan.
3. In a medium bowl, beat egg whites until stiff.
4. In separate bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light, fluffy and creamy.
5. To the butter mix, add zest, almond extract, egg yolks, salt and ricotta cheese to butter mix and beat until smooth.
6. Mix baking powder into flour, then beat into butter mix just until combined.
7. Gently fold egg whites into butter mix, trying not to deflate mix.
8. Spoon batter into prepared pan and bake for about 35-45 minutes or until a cake tester stuck into center of cake comes out clean. It should have a nice light golden color on top. My cake was ¾ inch deep when cooked.
9. Allow to cool. Use a sharp knife to cut. 
10. Serve with berries, sliced almonds, powdered sugar, orange curd, lemon curd, or the the sauces below.

Stays fresh for several days covered on the counter and stiffens with refrigeration.

Orange Sauce 1

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2 Tablespoons real maple syrup
• 2 Tablespoons orange juice concentrate

Instructions

1. Melt butter.
2. Mix butter with syrup and orange juice, and stir until combined.

Orange Sauce 2

Ingredients

• ¼ cup sugar
• ¼ cup water
• 1-2 Tablespoons orange liqueur
• 1-2 Tablespoons brandy
• 1-2 Tablespoons rum

Instructions

1. Dissolve sugar in water and bring to a boil.
2. After zesting oranges for the cake, peel, separate, and add the orange slices into sugar syrup.
3. Add orange liqueur, brandy, and run to the sugar syrup. Leave oranges to sit in syrup so they become juicier and sweeter.
4. Serve cake slices with some orange slices and syrup.