Raspberry Ricotta Cake

I had seen this recipe in a few places – I think it’s originally from Bon Appétit, but I made Molly Wizenberg’s version. This cake was absolutely delicious! The ricotta was a great addition, and summer berries are always great. I’m thinking the Engineer would have enjoyed this more with blueberries, but the rest of us loved it as is!

I’m posting my recipe for ricotta again below, because I realize it’s annoying to have to click away and then flip back and forth between two tabs. This time, I made it with lactose-free cream (I highly recommend this if you have the cream, as the resulting ricotta is so much richer and – obviously – creamier) and I doubled the recipe, to make sure I had enough, because when I use only milk I get about 1 generous cup of ricotta. It turns out that the yield is greater when using cream as compared to only milk, possibly because you have more solids to start with (maybe someone who is well-versed in cheese-making could chime in). Anyway, since the strawberries were in season, I used leftover ricotta to make this strawberry raspberry arugula salad with ricotta topping, which I also highly recommend.


For the ricotta
3 cups lactose-free whole milk
1 cup lactose-free cream (if unavailable, use 1 more cup lactose-free whole milk and see note above)
½ tsp coarse sea salt
3 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

Pour the milk, cream and salt into a 3-quart nonreactive saucepan. Attach a candy or deep-fry thermometer. Heat the milk to 190 °F, stirring it occasionally to keep it from scorching on the bottom. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice, then stir it once or twice, gently and slowly. Let the pot sit undisturbed for 5 minutes.

Line a colander with a few layers of cheesecloth and place it over a large bowl (to catch the whey). Pour the curds and whey into the colander and let the curds strain for at least an hour. At an hour, you’ll have a tender, spreadable ricotta. At two hours, it will be spreadable but a bit firmer, almost like cream cheese. (It will firm as it cools, so do not judge its final texture by what you have in your cheesecloth.) Discard the whey, or, if you’re one of those crafty people who use it for other things, of course, save it. Use the ricotta right away or transfer it to an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to use.


For the raspberry ricotta cake
1 ½ cups (210 g.) all-purpose flour
1 cup (200 g.) sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. kosher salt
3 large eggs
1 ½ cups (325 g.) whole-milk ricotta (see above for lactose-free version)
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 stick lactose-free butter, melted
1 cup (100 g.) frozen raspberries, divided (I used fresh raspberries)

Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Lightly grease a 9-inch round cake pan (I used a springform pan), and press a round of parchment paper into the bottom; grease it again.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, and kosher salt.

In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, ricotta, and vanilla until smooth. Gently stir ricotta mixture into the dry ingredients until just blended. Then fold in the butter, followed by ¾ cup of the raspberries, taking care not to crush them. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it evenly, and scatter the remaining raspberries on top.

Bake the cake until it is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Let cool at least 20 minutes before unmolding. Cool completely before serving.