Rich Almond Ricotta Cake

This recipe was taken from a magazine – unfortunately, I can’t remember which one it was (I subscribe to several Foodie magazines) as I do like to give credit where credit is due – so if anyone recognises it, please let me know! We’ve made this cake several times, and it’s absolutely delicious! I was fretting about it the other day because I thought I’d lost the recipe, and was going frantically through just about every on-line cake recipe that called for almond meal – but I finally found it hiding amongst my somewhat higgledy-piggledy recipes and notes the other day, and a great sigh of relief was heard echoing around Victoria! 😉

You will need:

  • 250g of ricotta cheese
  • 1 tsp almond extract
  • 250g almond meal
  • 1/4 cup flaked almonds
  • 4 eggs, separated
  • 175g of caster sugar
  • Finely grated rind of 1 lime
  • icing sugar to dust

And this is what you do:

Preheat the oven to 150C. Grease and line the base and sides of a 20cm loose-bottom cake tin. Beat together the ricotta, egg yolks, almond extract, and sugar in an electric mixer until smooth. Stir in the almond meal and lime zest. Whisk the egg whites in a clean, dry bowl until they form soft peaks. Fold 1/3 of the beaten egg whites into the ricotta mixture to loosen, then fold in the remaining egg whites. Spread into the tin and bake for 35 minutes. Sprinkle with the flaked almonds, and bake for a further ten (10) minutes until golden, and a skewer inserted gently into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cool slightly, then turn out onto a wire rack. Cool completely, then dust with icing sugar to serve.

To serve:

Dust with icing sugar, cut into generous slices and serve cream, whipped cream, or ice cream (or all three, if you’re greedy and gluttonous! 😉 )

Enjoy!