A Southern Grace: richie rich-otta

September 12, 2016

richie rich-otta

Yum

I'm in a snack cake frenzy, folks!


The dessert that kicked off this obsession was a plum cake from David Lebovitz. It's no coincidence that this tasty treat also contains plums, as the first cake was so good, I got more plums and set them aside for dessert purposes only. Since ricotta cheese is also a current staple in my fridge, I was delighted to find a very attractive cake recipe making use of both ricotta and fresh fruit.


This cake has a texture unlike any you've ever tried. It's moist and rich yet light, which is essentially the threesome that makes a cake the end-all, be-all for me. Bonus: No mixer required. Just mix your dry ingredients, mix your wet ingredients, combine them, gently add the fruit, and bake away. You don't need frosting, icing, glaze, or powdered sugar; ice cream and whipped cream, though always welcome accompaniments to cake, aren't necessary either.


Future adjustments: I meant to add lemon zest to the batter but completely forgot and ended up just sprinkling it onto the top. I think it'd be great on the inside. I also intend to add more fruit to the next cake--there wasn't quite enough in this one!

Pretty Plum Ricotta Cake
Slightly adapted from Bon Appetit
(printable recipe)
Serves 8
Ingredients:
  • 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1-1/2 cups ricotta cheese
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
  • 4 plums, pitted and cut into chunks, divided use
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch cake pan and set aside.
Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
Whisk eggs, ricotta, and vanilla in a medium bowl until smooth; fold into dry ingredients just until blended.
Then fold in butter, followed by 3/4 of the plum chunks.
Scrape batter into prepared pan and scatter remaining fruit over the top.
Bake cake until golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 50–60 minutes. Let cool at least 20 minutes before unmolding.

14 comments:

Rosa said...

Such a beautiful and tempting cake!

Cheers,

Rosa

summer said...

This looks so heavenly! Nice recipe.

summerdaisycottage.blogspot.com

Pam said...

I love the idea of using ricotta in there. I have some over ripe nectarines, I wonder if they would work well with this cake?

Angie's Recipes said...

I need to use ricotta more often in my baking. The cake has such a moist smooth crumb that I really love.

Gloria Baker said...

This look absolutely delicious. I love all with fruits, I think were strawberries but are plums, look delicious.
And love you use ricotta !!
xoxo

Erin said...

I need to try ricotta in my baking! This cake looks amazing.

janice15 said...

Looks and sounds wonderful just need the ricotta, can't wait to try it. Thank you for sharing the recipe, with love Janice

Juliana said...

This cake sounds and looks awesome Grace, I love the idea of no mixer required...and the texture...sounds like heaven...I have never baked cake with ricotta...I will need to try this soon.
Have a wonderful week :)

Marjie said...

Like Gloria, I thought the plums were strawberries upon looking at the picture. I'll bet I could convince my teenaged "I'm only eating high protein foods" son that this is high protein cake! After all, ricotta!

Big Rigs 'n Lil' Cookies said...

I always mean to make more recipes with ricotta. This recipe is proof I need to do that! It looks perfect.

Barbara said...

I just made a ricotta cake as well....they are always so moist. Mine was almond/lemon. Love your recipe, Grace. Plums are so good and you can't go wrong with a Lebovitz recipe. Definitely trying this one.

Cheri Savory Spoon said...

This is my kind of cake Grace, love everything about it. I bet this is delicious any time of the day.

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

Ooh I like cakes that don't require a mixer! Sometimes you just want to wash one bowl and not the big mixer bowl :)

Inger @ Art of Natural Living said...

You can never have too much fruit can you! I may need to try this with some fruit I canned that isn't getting used...