Treat of the Week....Lemon Ricotta Cake

Here's my warning...this is not one of my uber healthy recipes..but I been in a baking mood lately...and with spring and spring cleaning time..I've also been in a lemon mood lately. So I decided to give this lovely looking Lemon Ricotta Cake a try off of Food52 blog. This cake was winner of a contest for the Best Recipe using fresh Ricotta. Click HERE to see the post!

I loved this recipe because I had everything on hand to make it...

here's why I put my healthy disclaimer up top...your base ingredients...butter and sugar. Nice for a treat but not for your waistline

Some lemon zest and grated apple..I opted for a Granny Smith..my apple of choice

here's a shot of the batter..I only added it in because the ricotta gives it a curdled look..so don't think you did something wrong! You typically get this look alot with recipes using lemon

 Note to self..make sure you own a spring form pan before you start a recipe that calls for one. Thank the lord that my sister was going to sell this at a yard sale we hosted last year and I scooped it up when she wasn't looking and threw it in my kitchen. Yeah, I know, I'm cheap...but I ripped apart my house thinking I didn't own one..and then found it...all buttered and ready to go

 curdled looking batter...but it turns into something so much better!

fresh out of the oven...cooling for ten minutes before the pan comes off

A close up...it almost looks like a giant corn muffin

The spring form pan sides pop off and I let the cake cool for 10 more minutes

then it got a shower of powdered sugar

Ready to be devoured

But..then I thought he needed a partner..so I poured myself some limoncello

I really enjoyed this recipe (and the limoncello!). I don't think Mr. Allan has eaten a lot of ricotta cake, while I remember eating ricotta cake and ricotta pie quite a bit growing up. I believe Mr. Allan expected a sweeter lemon cake...but this is more of a ricotta cake with a hint of lemon...but he still ate it up...two pieces if I remember correctly...but he can do no wrong since he was away on business for quite some time..normally he'd get the evil eye that would say one piece is enough.

Louisa's Cake (a lemon ricotta cake)

from Food52 blog

serves 6

Ingredients

9 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 pinch salt
1 cup fresh ricotta
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 apple, peeled and grated (should yield about 1 cup)
Confectioners' sugar for serving

Directions
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a 9 inch spring form pan

Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Then, add the eggs, one at a time.

slowly add flour, salt, ricotta, lemon zest, baking powder and apple

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the cake is golden brown and the sides start to pull away from the pan

Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Turn the cake out of the pan and cool completely on the rack. Sift powder sugar over top or serve with your favorite seasonal fruit.

Just a couple notes...after 30 minutes the top of mine wasn't quite golden brown..I left it in for 2-3 more minutes..but be careful...in those quick 2 minutes, I opened the oven and BAM..we had golden brown! The sides of my cake did not pull away from the sides when it came out of the oven..once it cooled a few minutes, it did and removing it was easy!

Enjoy!