Skip to main content

Little Orange Ricotta Cakes


It was pretty horrible and grey in Cardiff last week. The rain seems to have taken on an unseemly persistence which is guaranteed only to break as the boys head back to school next week. Mooching about the house looking for something to bake, I decided to try and bring a bit of citrussy zing to the table to pep everyone up. These little cakes are based on a recipe for a larger bundt-type cake. But I wanted to do something a little different with it, and so decided to use some cardboard Baking Moulds from Lakeland to make some little individual cakes. I hadn't used them before, but a couple of weeks ago, I had one of the cutest little lemon cakes in one (at my fab local deli, Deli a Go Go) and when I saw them in Lakeland thought I had to give them a go. You could always use ordinary cupcake liners though.


The recipe is adapted from one of my 'cookbooks of the moment', Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman (I love this little book as it has such delicious sounding recipes and fantastic flavour combinations. It's a US book though, so uses measuring cups that you need to translate). As I wanted to make a much smaller amount of mix for just 6 cakes, rather than the large one, I played around with the amounts. Even then I ended up with mix enough for 7, so made a little mini-bundt. Sadly - or happily if you were Mike and I - that didn't last long enough to be photographed. I also decided to make a simple icing glaze, using icing sugar and orange juice, and then to decorate with orange zest. Wow! This certainly gave the zinginess I was looking for and the cake itself was delicious - subtly flavoured with orange and vanilla. The texture was denser than some, but still very moist as a result of the ricotta. The icing gave a nice touch, especially with the oil from the grated orange zest creeping in to it.

Orange Ricotta Cakes

Ingredients (makes 7 little cakes - 6 square and one mini bundt)

210g plain flour
3/4 tspn baking powder
1/4 tspn bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tspn salt
85g softened unsalted butter
175g caster sugar
135g ricotta cheese, at room temperature
2 medium eggs (to get the right measurement for the recipe, I cracked them into a jug and weighed out 75g beaten egg)
2 tbspns freshly squeezed orange juice
3/4 tspn vanilla extract
3/4 tspn orange zest.

For the glaze
Sifted icing sugar - about a cup and a half's worth
2 tbspns orange juice
To decorate - strips of orange zest
(In total, I used 2 oranges - one for the cake (zest and juice) and glaze (juice) and the second for the zest to decorate)

Preheat the oven to 140 Fan / 160 Conventional / 325 F / Gas 3. Either use some baking moulds or prepare a muffin tin with cupcake liners.

Mix the flour in a medium bowl with the baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes in a stand mixer on medium). Add the ricotta and mix until smooth.

Gradually add the beaten egg, mixing to incorporate. Don't worry if it looks curdled, as it will come together as soon as you add the flour. Add the orange juice, zest, and vanilla, and mix briefly for a few seconds.

Now add the flour, and mix until incorporated and then give it about 30 more seconds. Scoop into the baking moulds so they are about half to two thirds full. Level the surface as best you can. 


Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes, until risen, golden and a cocktail stick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Place on a wire rack to cool completely.


Make up the glaze by mixing the icing sugar and orange juice until you have the consistency of double cream. Spoon over the top of the cakes to coat. Sprinkle a little orange zest over the top to decorate, if liked. [I found that the oil from the zest ran into the icing in little rivers - see the little cracks in the photo. It gave it a really fresh, orangy taste]


It can be a little tricky extracting the cake from the bakers moulds - but after botching one, I found the easiest way was to just undo the seams.


With their citrussy aroma and flavour, these little cakes certainly brightened up my day.

Susie

* Just for the record, everything I use on the blog is bought and paid for by me. If I mention something, it's because I've found it good and I think you might be interested to know what I've used.

Comments

  1. I've heard the Cake Keeper Cakes is a really good book - may have to add it on my Christmas list. Individual cakes are a fabulous idea, your pictures look lush x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is a great book - loads of different flavour combinations - but unfortunately some recipes don't have photos. But I live the idea if always having something in your cake 'keeper' on hand in case. :) x

      Delete
  2. I love ricotta in cakes. Lovely cakes and beautiful presentation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks - glad you like them. I think the ricotta helps keep them really moist. I've never used it myself although I've had it in cakes before. Would definitely try others, though ;) Any excuse for more cake!

      Delete
  3. Those cakes look full of sunshine - really good. I saw those baking moulds last week and almost bought some - I'll get some next time, now that I know that they work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Phil! I think the moulds probably need a minute or so more cooking time as they won't retain and conduct heat as well as tins - but they do make a lovely presentation. Especially the patterned ones you can get. :)

      Delete
  4. Susie, these are stunning and I can only imagine the aroma in the kitchen... most of all thogh I adore the little square boxes... they are genius indeed!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Dom - yes, the kitchen did smell lovely and citrusy. :)

      Delete
  5. I love citrus in cakes. I also love miniature cakes and have a multitude of baking cases in miniature form! Looks like another book to add to my every growing wish list :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I do, too. I think it helps balance the sweetness of the sugar and makes for a lighter, fresher taste. It is a lovely book. :)

      Delete
  6. These are gorgeous little cakes, and those little cardboard cartons are just so cute. I make an orange halva cake that is sort of similar but love the use of ricotta here in yours.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your coment :) I have never tried halva, so it'll have to make it on to my list. The ricotta worked really well. :)

      Delete
  7. These are so cute and I love the little moulds. It also sounds like a really interesting flavour combination...I'd love to try one of these! :-) I've never heard of that cookbook but I'll have to check it out...although I'm trying to cut back on recipe book buying!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Laura. I know what you mean about cookbooks - I try and be good for a couple of months but then just end up having a bit of a spree. Must.Try.And.Be.Good. :)

      Delete

Post a Comment

Your comments are very much appreciated.

Popular posts from this blog

Dark Indulgent Chocolate and Walnut Brownies for the Weekly Bake Off

It's been a great couple of weeks in the Bake Off , as Amy has chosen some fantastic chocolate recipes from Mary Berry's 100 Cakes and Bakes . Although I made last week's American Chocolate Ripple Cheesecake, I didn't enter it. Not because it was a disaster (it was incredibly delicious though very rich - Josh has been able to eek it out all week as he only needs a little piece to get his daily chocolate fix!), but I simply ran out of time. So this week, I decided to get my skates on and make the bake early. Particularly as it's brownies. Yes. Brownies. Those dark, fudgey, chocolatey little bites of heaven. But for me, this week was an experiment. You see, I already have a fantastic brownie recipe . It's been made countless times and been played around with to give an endless variety of treats. (Have I ever mentioned Maya Gold in brownies? Yes? Well I'll have to post about them someday soon because they are amazing - like some sort of out of body exp

Not Viennese, but Swiss Cakes for the Weekly Bake Off

One of my strongest childhood memories is the ritual of our family's Sunday Tea, which always took a certain form. My nan would put the kettle on at just before 4pm, and a pot of steaming hot tea would soon be brewed. There were sandwiches, and always, always some form of cake. Quite often, if nan and mum had had a busy weekend, it would be provided by Mr Kipling. My brother and I looked forward to this with some enthusiasm, as there were quite often French Fancies and Vienniese Whirls, which were our hands-down favourites. We could leave the Battenburg Slices, and the jam tarts were often a bit too dry  for us (definitely not as good as homemade). But the soft sweet inside of an iced French Fancy (my favourite being the lemon yellow ones), and the moistness of the Viennese Whirls were something to savour. Of course, you can still buy these. But they just don't seem to taste the same somehow. So when Amy announced this week's Bake Off challenge as the Apricot Swiss

Limoncello Cake

I really love this cake. I mean really love it. So much so, it's my new best friend. It's like sunshine on a plate. The citrussy aroma tempts you while the sultry lemony pucker hits you full in the mouth. And who can resist anything with 'Limoncello' in the title? The mere mention of the word transports you to to the Sicilian sun. It's one more reason I have to thank Random Recipes for getting me to delve into my cookbooks. This month's challenge had a bit of a twist. Dom, of Belleau Kitchen (who runs the challenge) created a Randometer thingummy-bob to test us. You had to enter how many cookbooks you owned, and then it would generate a random number. You counted along your shelf to that book, and then entered the number of pages, to generate another number and so find your Random Recipe. The gods must have been looking favourably on me this month, as I ended up with this gorgeous lemon cake, from Peggy Porschen's 'Boutique Baking