Pour this ricotta cheese mixture over a basic yellow cake before baking and the magic happens. This Italian Ricotta Cake is rich, delicious and moist with a beautiful bottom layer of ricotta. You can get creative with this recipe – add it to “My Bake List”!
An Old Fashioned Ricotta Cake
The other day I had a discussion with a sweet lady easily twice my age about baking. She commented that the days of a simple cake baked in a 13×9 dish were gone – almost primitive. I reassured her that these cakes were not at all a thing of the past.
Really, they’re baked all the time – people just don’t serve them from the dish anymore. It’s far more “très chic” to cut and plate the cake instead of serving it out of the old anchor or pyrex dish. (Haha – unless we’re at home with no company)
This cake, though. I love it. I appreciate the simplicity of this Italian Ricotta Cake. I don’t always want a fluffy cake frosted to high heaven. I appreciate a cake that can stand alone and be served with just a dusting of powdered sugar or cocoa powder.
This is a moist, dense cake – reminiscent of a pound cake with almost a custard bottom from the ricotta. I appreciate all the flavors are there but none are too overwhelming.
Looking for more rich cheese cakes? Check out this Chocolate Ricotta Cheesecake & this Cream Cheese Pound Cake Recipe !
Ingredients & Instructions
This is a delicious, simple and easy cake to bake in your good old 13X9 dish.
You can easily switch this cake up by adding different extracts or lemon juice to the batter – it’s one of those fabulous recipes that’s perfect as is or that can be built upon.
You start with preparing a simple cake batter, pouring into your prepared baking dish then spooning the ricotta mixture on top.
The magic happens in the oven and that rich, lush layer of ricotta sinks to the bottom of the cake.
I served this cake various ways. Dusted with powdered sugar, dusted with cocoa powder, a sprinkle of cinnamon, drizzled with dark chocolate syrup, drizzled with raspberry syrup, topped with strawberries & whipped cream – the possibilities are endless here. Ohhh…a brushing of a rum/simple syrup is divine!
Hope you enjoy!
Amanda ♥
Italian Ricotta Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- For cake:
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup butter cubed
- 1 cup milk
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- For Ricotta Mixture:
- 1 pound ricotta cheese
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- optional – powdered sugar, cocoa powder or cinnamon – dust when serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Grease/spray a 13″x9″ baking dish.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda & salt.
- Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles cornmeal.
- Add in milk, eggs, oil and extracts. Beat until smooth. Pour cake batter into baking dish.
- In a large bowl (go ahead and use the same bowl) mix together ricotta cheese, eggs, sugar and vanilla.
- Evenly pour/spoon ricotta mixture over cake.
- Bake for 40 – 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.
- Most of the ricotta cheese mixture will have sunk to the bottom creating almost a custard layer.
- Cool on wire rack. Serve and enjoy. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, cocoa powder or top with a jam or fruit syrup.
- Store covered in the fridge. Let cake sit for a few minutes at room temp before serving.
The cake looks like it would be super moist. Looks delicious. I love cakes like this.
Thanks so much, Dawn 🙂
So great. This is the cake that just about everyone in my family loves. Love that you made it without the box mix. Can’t wait to try.
We absolutely loved it – thanks so much for sharing the recipe 🙂
I love baking, too. Something so relaxing about it, isn’t it? Turn your mind off and focus on what’s in front of you (and maybe some taste testing along the way, lol). I love classic dishes; everything doesn’t have to be so complicated. This cake looks so moist! I love the ricotta in there, ’cause who doesn’t like ricotta? It’s so nice, too, to have a cake that you can build on and kinda add whatever toppings you chose. Plus, ricotta goes with so many things. Yum!
Couldn’t agree more with you Dawn.
Yes, it is so relaxing. It’s like therapy, nothing makes me feel better when I’m stresses or moody. Oh, and ricotta. Ricotta makes everything better 🙂
This looks fantastic, Amanda! I need to give it a try. Pinned!
Thanks so much, Thao 🙂 I think I’ll be baking it often this summer – simple, delicious and it will be killer with fresh ripe fruit and whipped cream – yum!
This is very good and easy to make! Can’t stop eating it. Thank You
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for stopping by Sandy 🙂
I did everything according to recipe even double checked it, and the ricotta cheese mixture did not sink down to bottom at all. It all stayed at the top and wasn’t that moist. What did I do wrong? Very disappointed.
Hi Cheryl. Sorry to hear this cake didn’t work out for you 🙁
It’s hard to guess what went wrong. I’ve made these kinds of cakes numerous times, from scratch & with boxed cake mix, and never ran into any problems. I also use whatever ricotta is on sale – whole or skim – so I don’t think the type of ricotta would be a problem.
I’m sorry – I really wish I could be of more help….
How far in advance could this be made and still be moist, I would like to make it two days before, but I don’t want it to be dry by the time I serve it.
Hi Sandy. This cake will still be wonderful if made two a few days ahead of time – the ricotta keeps it moist.
Hoe this helps 🙂
I had the same trouble as Cheryl. The ricotta layer sank only a little bit here and there. Almost all of it stayed on the top and was dried out. The cake itself (box mix with milk, vanilla and butter instead of water and oil) was moist and flavorful but there was no “custard” layer. Disappointing.
Hi Carole.
Sorry it didn’t work out for you. I haven’t tried this recipe with a box mix, but I’ll have to give it a go during my winter baking season.
Thanks for stopping by 🙂
I made this cake from scratch and my ricotta didn’t sink down. I’m hoping it will still taste good as I’m taking it to a Culinary Capers dinner tonight.
Cake needs to cool completely before cutting. The ricotta was runny in the center but cake was delicious
This looks delicious and will be giving it a go over the weekend. Thank you for sharing the recipe. It is greatly appreciated.
I used a different recipe and it didn’t call for eggs in the ricotta part. So how do you think this will come out?? Hoping it has a cannoli feel to it!
Amazing will be making this again and again.