Not everything I bake turns out. Last week I made an apple buckwheat ricotta cake. It tasted delicious but it failed to rise so I decided I couldn't post the recipe. Instead I went back to the drawing board. I knew I wanted the cake to contain both apples and ricotta so I went back to a recipe I'd used in the past and adapted it.
This cake is a butter cake with grated apple folded through. Inside there is a layer of lemon scented ricotta, an idea I pinched from Julia Busuttil Nishimura. The cake is topped with a layer of thinly sliced apples and a few flaked almonds.
Apart from the ricotta I already had everything I needed either in the pantry or the fruit bowl. Make sure you buy the best ricotta you can find from the deli counter.
The cake does take some time to cook but as it baked, it filled the house with the scent of lemon, almonds and baked apples.
Here's the recipe for you which makes an 17cm cake. For all my recipes I use a 250 ml cup, a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60 g eggs. My oven is a conventional oven so if you have a fan-forced oven you may need to reduce the temperature by 20ºC. If you'd like to make a 23cm cake, then double the ingredients. The cake should take the same length of time to bake.
Apple and ricotta cake
Filling
125 g well drained full fat ricotta
1 egg yolk
20 g caster sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
½ tsp lemon rind
Cake
1 small Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 tbs lemon juice
110g butter
110g caster sugar
1 tsp finely grated lemon rind
2 eggs
75g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch salt
50g (1/2 cup) almond meal
1 small Granny Smith apple, peeled and coarsely grated
2 tbs flaked almonds
1 tbs caster sugar
Filling
For the ricotta filling, mix all ingredients together in a small bowl until combined.
Cake
Preheat the oven to 180°C, conventional. Grease and line a 17cm tin with baking paper.
In a small bowl, mix the apple slices with the lemon juice and set to one side.
Beat the butter, sugar and rind together until light and smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat together. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together into a small bowl then add the almond meal. Stir to combine. Add to the butter mixture in two or three lots alternating with the grated apple.
Spoon half the cake mixture into the prepared pan and then spoon over the ricotta filling, spreading it almost to the edge. Gently top with the remaining cake batter before smoothing the surface.
Top with reserved apple slices and flaked almonds and gently press into the cake batter. Scatter the sugar on top of the cake and bake for 1 to 1 and 1/4 hours or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out moist but relatively clean. If the apple slices brown too quickly, then cover with a piece of foil whilst the cake finishes cooking through.
Cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. The cake can be served warm or at room temperature. Store the cake in the fridge, covered, but bring to room temperature before serving.
I had a slice at home for my dessert and it was delicious. The ricotta layer added a special touch.
See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.
Bye for now,
Jillian
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