This is an easy, all-purpose cake.
Need I say more?
If you are still curious, I’ll point out that the batter comes together in about 15 minutes and the cake even benefits from being made a day or two ahead (but is still a guaranteed hit served the day of).
You can dress it up with berries and whipped cream, or enjoy slices straight out of the pan alongside your morning caffeine.
See: All purpose. Win win. Yum yum.
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Orange Ricotta Loaf Cake
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: Serves 6 to 8 1x
- Category: Quickbread
- Method: Baking
Description
This loaf cake tastes even better a day or two later. After baking and once cooled completely, wrap well in plastic wrap and store at room temperature up to three days ahead of serving or gifting. Yum!
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 ½ cups cake flour (192 g)
- 2 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp fine-grain salt (like table or sea salt)
- 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, room temperature (¾ cup, 6 oz)
- 1 ½ cups plus 1 TB granulated sugar (313 g)
- 1 ½ cups whole-milk ricotta cheese (330 g)
- zest of 2 oranges, preferably organic
- 3 large eggs
- 2 TB fresh-squeezed orange juice
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp pure almond extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F
- Grease a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan with butter.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, sugar, ricotta, and zest until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. With the machine running, add the eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the orange juice, vanilla, and almond extracts and mix until combined. Turn the mixer to low and add the dry ingredients just until incorporated.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 55 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Before getting started, it's best if the butter, ricotta, and eggs are all at room temperature.
- To capture all the orange oil from the zest (read: extra orange flavor), put the sugar in the mixing bowl and zest the oranges directly into the bowl and over the sugar. You can take it one step further and mix the zest and sugar together before adding the other ingredients. The sugar will turn a pale orange and smell amazing!
- For a little extra pizazz, dust the cake with powdered sugar before serving. Or, go fancy and serve the cake with whipped cream and berries.
- I use this pan and have never had issues with sticking (the cake seriously pops right out). But feel free to line the bottom of your pan with parchment, if so inclined.
- Recipe adapted from Giada De Laurentiis' Ricotta Orange Pound Cake
Keywords: Giada De Laurentiis, make-ahead desserts, quick bread recipes, loaf cake recipes, orange cake, pound cake
Ingrid
This was great! Really nice buttery orange flavor with a nice yellow color. I used all-purpose flour instead of cake flour and mixed it by hand. We ate it plain and with blueberries and everyone liked it! Definitely use a non-stick pan or line with parchment paper; I used a plain aluminum pain and did have some trouble with sticking. Thanks for a great addition to the recipe file - we will be making this again!
★★★★★
Sarah Marx Feldner
I am SO happy this was a hit, Ingrid! And while cake flour will make the loaf cake more tender, it's great to know you had success with all-purpose flour, as well. And served with blueberries...so pretty and delicious! xo
Ariel
This was amazing - it got rave reviews all around. It was so easy to make, and I loved that I could make it the day before. I did have trouble with sticking (I used a glass pan and buttered generously, but next time will use parchment), but after sprinkling generously with powdered sugar, you almost couldn't tell :-). Will definitely make again!
Sarah Marx Feldner
Yay! I'm so happy this was a hit. And yes, make-ahead makes everything better 😉 Thank you, Ariel! xoxo