Delicious and speedy Italian almond ricotta cake for Easter

One of the joys of blogging, to quote Milk and Bun, is that you discover new worlds (Milk and Bun introduces you to the great wide world of Russian cooking) – and this cake comes to my blog from multilingual Margherita (an Italian living in Quebec), who blogs in an overachieving kind of a way, but deliciously, in Italian, French and English,  via Milk and Bun (a Russian living in the US somewhere) – thank you ladies! See Milk and Bun’s version here  and Margherita’s original, as always, beautifully photographed here.

 

 

I had a tub of ricotta, forlorn, forgotten and alone, and 1 month past its sell-by date, sitting in my fridge, and as I am of the I trust my senses school of cooking, I opened the tub, tasted the ricotta, decided it was still edible, after all these products are pasteurised and then packed into plastic tubs under sterile conditions, discovered I had all the other ingredients needed and decided to make the cake. It feels more like a tarte to me as though it has no crust, it is flat. I love it, highly recommend it, and would make it again immediately, although I have no ricotta at hand just at the moment, having just got back from a business trip.

I decided I wanted an easter taste so adapted the recipe to have a bunny on the top. Feeling creative I drew my own and cut it out, I encourage you to do the same, or you can print out my picture and cut that out if you prefer..

I followed Milk and Bun’s recommendation to use less sugar, however I am sure the original is wonderful too.

The recipe:

Ricotta and almond cake (adapted from Milk and Bun and originally on Margherita’s blog)

Prep time about 10 minutes, baking 40 – 50 minutes. About an hour work time and then you need to let it cool before you can eat it.

• 250g ricotta
• 180g ground almonds
• 3 egg whites
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• a pinch of salt
• 90g butter, soft (at room temperature)
• 100g white sugar
• zest 1 mandarin, organic
• 3 egg yolks
• almond flakes for original version, or icing sugar if you want a rabbit on top

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 150 °, line a cake pan with parchment paper, set aside;
2. Cream butter with the sugar and the orange zest; add the egg yolks
3. Add the drained ricotta, almond flour, mix.
4. Whisk the egg whites until stiff with 2-3 drops of lemon juice;
5. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter
6. Spread the mixture in the cake tin and decorate with almond flakes if using (and not putting a bunny rabbit on top)
7. Bake for about 40 –  50 minutes; don’t overtake, there is no flour in there, and you don’t want it to turn too dry.
8. Let cool for at least 1 hour before unfolding it
9. If you are putting a bunny on top – cut out a paper shape, see example above, lay on top of cold cake and sieve icing sugar on top, liberally!

And then serve: