Cake

Little Lemon and Blueberry Ricotta Cake

9/17/2020 08:48:00 PM

Little lemon and blueberry ricotta cake! This is a moist, fragrant butter cake, full of delicious ricotta and juicy blueberries, all baked in a small eighteen centimetre size. It's a simple little cake, easy to make and perfect for tea time.

Lemon and blueberry ricotta cake
Little Lemon and Blueberry Ricotta Cake


So, the small batch baking continues. Here in Melbourne we're still in lockdown. The stage four restrictions I mentioned last time were extended for a fortnight, with a plan thereafter for a slow and steady easing of restrictions in steps, depending on how the Coronavirus case numbers progress. I'm really pleased that our state has a plan, and that it is both cautious and based on medical advice. I don't want to get too ahead of myself, but I am happy that the case numbers seem to be moving in the right direction, and feeling hopeful for the future.

I am mega jealous of my interstate friends, who get to see their families, eat in restaurants, get haircuts, and travel more than five kilometres away from their homes - but there's no point complaining or fixating on what I can't have. All I can do is take it one day at a time, be patient, and appreciate the good things that I'm very fortunate to have. (No commute! Extra time with the baby! The internet! Elasticised pants all day every day! So much cake!)

And speaking of cake... I made this little lemon and blueberry ricotta cake the other day in response an intense desire for cake, and to an open tub of ricotta in the fridge. We'd bought the ricotta for Maya to eat (she's onto solid foods now and we're trying to get her to try a big variety of foods!), and she only ate a couple of spoonfuls. I say "ate", but I mean that she ate a little, and smooshed most of it over her face and the table. Baby led weaning is MESSY!

Little lemon and blueberry ricotta cake
Little lemon and blueberry ricotta cake

It's a simple butter cake, with a generous amount of ricotta in the batter, and juicy blueberries folded through. I used some old blueberries from the fridge that were just past their prime, but frozen would work well too.

Little lemon and blueberry ricotta cake
Little lemon and blueberry ricotta cake

And as per all the small-batch baking I've done recently, this is a small cake. I baked it in my beloved eighteen centimetre springform tin. (Which you could also use to make, for example, a small cheesecake!) As you can see, it's quite a deep cake, so I think it would work fine in a twenty centimetre tin as well if that's all you have; it would just be a little shallower.

I usually line cake tins with baking paper; this time I tried something different. Using a tip I learned from German home bakers, I buttered the tin and dusted it with bread crumbs.

Little lemon and blueberry ricotta cake
Little Lemon and Blueberry Ricotta Cake

The cake was so lovely! It's such a good, simple cake, for afternoon tea (or even breakfast). Being so simple, I was actually surprised by how much we liked it - we kept going back for more, and finished it off within a couple of days. It's really moist and fragrant, with gorgeous sweet pops of blueberries. The lemon zest really enhances all the flavours and makes it zingy and bright. Just lovely. I hope this sweet little cake brightens up your day!

Little Lemon and Blueberry Ricotta Cake
A recipe by Sarah Cooks

Ingredients
Butter and breadcrumbs, for preparing the cake tin
60 grams butter, softened
130 grams caster sugar
225 grams ricotta
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
The zest and juice of 1/4 lemon
140 grams plain flour
Pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C. Butter an 18-cm springform tin and dust with breadcrumbs. Tilt the tin around to evenly cover the base and sides with a thin layer of breadcrumbs. Tip any excess out and discard.
Beat the 60 grams butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Add the ricotta and beat to combine.
Add the egg, vanilla extract, lemon zest and juice and beat in.
Sift in the flour, salt and bicarb, then mix in until just combined.
Add the blueberries and fold in.
Place the batter into the prepared tin and smooth the top.
Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until cooked when tested with a skewer.
Place the cake, in the tin, on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes or so. Remove the cake from the tin and allow to cool completely on the wire rack.
Dust with icing sugar to serve.
Makes 1 x 18cm cake

Have you made this recipe? Leave a comment below! Tag me on Instagram @sarahcooksblog and hashtag #sarahcooksblog

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2 comments

  1. This looks lovely Sarah! I love baking smaller cakes. For starters they suit just the two of us but they're also so cute too! I have a 15cm tin that I love using too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. this article is very useful to us thanks for sharing this info with us…

    ReplyDelete

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