Everyday Ricotta Cake

I have many ricotta cakes in my repertoire.    

The best thing to do with leftover ricotta cheese is bake a cake.

Here, I tweaked my Heavenly Ricotta Cake recipe by cutting down on the butter and omitting the almond extract.  

I focused more on an orange flavor profile with fresh rosemary, but kept the raisins.

This is just the best cake.  So simple.  

You can swap in any fruit/berries if you don't like raisins......you can put chocolate chips and lemon zest instead of the orange.   It really is so adaptable.

*a tip on citrus zest:  Whenever I use a lemon for juice, I zest the rind with a microplane zester.  Same goes with an orange or lime.  I zest the citrus on top of little sheets of plastic wrap, then place the little packages in the freezer so I have them all the time for baking!

Any day, Everyday Ricotta Cake:

1 1/2 cup fresh ricotta

3 eggs

1 stick (half cup) butter, melted

zest of an orange

1 tbsp fresh rosemary needles, chopped

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup golden raisins

1 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

It's pretty straight forward, as are most of my cakes.   

You mix the wet then add the dry.

Use a 9" springform pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray and lined with a round of parchment paper.

Pour batter into pan and bake in a 350F oven for 45 minutes.

Your cake should have a nice dome and a big crack in the middle.  Trust me.

Let the cake rest in tin for a few minutes, then pull the handle to remove.

Cool cake on a rack then dust with powdered sugar.

My rosemary bush was flowering, so I decorated the cake with the purple flowers and pansies.

Cake lady should've been my nickname.

xo