Make to Impress (Yourself or Anyone): Lemon Ricotta Cake
What smells more divine than that rising cake mixture in the oven? With a few ingredients like eggs, butter, flour, sugar and dairy, I have found my path to heaven. One of the greatest joys of baking comes when I stand next to the vent and take a huge inhale of that hearty smell of butter and eggs, in perfect balance with the scent of lemon zest.
---if only I could do this in yoga classes when I am told to take a deep inhale!
This lemon ricotta cake recipe from NYTimes Cooking calls for readily available ingredients and no fancy techniques are needed! In contrast to its elegant simplicity is the impressive final product: when served hot, it has a gooey pudding texture; if you let it set and serve it cold, it turns more like a flan; on top of that, you can play with the decorations-berry sauce, confectioners’ sugar, more lemon zest, whipped cream, ice cream… Let the occasion and your imagination lead you! It’s a perfect dessert to impress your family and friends in this holiday season.
Serves: 12 people
Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 quart whole milk (I used almond milk)
- 1 ¾ cups semolina flour
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ¾ cups sugar
- 1 large or 2 small lemons, zest only
- 4 large eggs
- 1 pound (2 cups) fresh ricotta cheese, strained
How to:
Preheat the oven to 325F; butter the mold (the original recipe uses a 11-inch round cake pan; I used the batter to fill a 6.5*6.5 inch square pan and 11 holes of a 12-muffin tin)
Step1:
Bring the milk to boil over medium heat. When it starts simmering, slowly add the semolina and salt. STIR WITH A WHISK CONSTANTLY!! This is the arm workout of the day. For 2 minutes, keep stirring when it gets sticky. The point is to make the mixture smooth and prevent the bottom from getting burnt.
Step2:
Remove the saucepan from the heat, stir in the sugar and butter. Transfer the batter to a mixing bowl; give it a stir from time to time when it's cooling down.
Step3:
Stir in the lemon zest, eggs (1 at a time) and ricotta. After adding each ingredient, beat until smooth. I promise your arms will have a nice workout after making this dessert.
Step4:
Batter in the mold of your choice! Bake for about an hour, until it's golden and fairly set (to test: gently shake the mold and the mixture shouldn't be running around). Take it out when it has cooled down a little bit and decorate!
What I really love about this recipe is that it can be as fancy or down to earth as you like. Eat directly from the muffin tin like my roommates and I did on a cold winter night, or cut it into slices, pair with a nice scoop of ice cream next to it, and finish with a pinch of mint leaves. Find your sweet spot(s) on that scale and enjoy!
Feature image via
