Lemon Ricotta Cake

Published March 16, 2018. Updated October 8, 2018

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This Lemon Ricotta Cake is the perfect dessert to welcome spring! It’s an Italian inspired, made from scratch cake that has such an irresistible flavor. The ricotta in the cake lends moisture and a delicious richness and the lemon zest adds a welcome zing. Trust me, this is a cake people wont forget about!

Lemon Ricotta Cake

Lemon Ricotta Cake

Admittedly this is a not so traditional Italian Ricotta Cake – the more traditional ricotta cake is made either with either almond flour or semolina flour.

I’ve tried the almond version and while it’s so delicious I actually prefer this softer version made with all white flour.

Lemon Ricotta Cake

A Perfect Cake

This ricotta cake is perfectly rich, it has a good density (similar to muffins), it’s amazingly moist, and perfectly lemony.

And it’s perfectly highlighted with toppings of fresh, lightly sweetened strawberries and fluffy whipped cream. The blend of the three layers together is simply dreamy.

Lemon Ricotta Cake

A Cake fit for Brunch

I love that this cake isn’t overly sweet, in fact it would even make an ideal weekend breakfast/brunch cake. Serve it to guests on Friday night for dessert then save what’s left (if there is any) for breakfast on Saturday – sounds like a good plan to me!

Lemon Ricotta Cake

A Cake Recipe You’ll Want on Repeat

Unfortunately this cake of mine is already gone (I made this cake a few weeks ago, I’m a few weeks ahead with recipes to share).

But no worries, I’ve bought more ricotta to make it again! It’s a perfect spring treat and I just can’t get enough of it! I have a dessert addiction, can you tell??

Lemon Ricotta Cake

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Lemon Ricotta Cake
4.91 from 71 votes

Lemon Ricotta Cake

This cake is the perfect dessert to welcome spring! It's an Italian inspired, made from scratch cake that has such an irresistible flavor. The ricotta in the cake lends moisture and a delicious richness and the lemon zest adds a welcome zing. Trust me, this is a cake people wont forget about! 
Servings: 12
Prep20 minutes
Cook40 minutes
Ready in: 2 hours

Ingredients

Topping

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan, line bottom with a round of parchment paper and butter parchment.
  • In a medium mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.
  • In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream together sugar, butter and lemon zest until pale and fluffy.
  • Mix in eggs one at a time (mixture will appear lumpy), blend in vanilla.
  • Add in half of the flour mixture and mix just until combined, add ricotta and mix just until combined. 
  • Add in last half of the flour mixture and mix just until combined. Gently fold batter to ensure ingredients are evenly incorporated. 
  • Pour batter into prepared springform pan and spread into an even layer. Bake in preheated oven until cake is set (a toothpick can come out moist but no batter), about 45 - 50 minutes.
  • Let cake cool 10 minutes then run a knife around edge to loosen any edges that may have stuck slightly, remove springform ring and continue to let cool.
  • Once cool, slice and serve with macerated strawberries and whipped cream.

Macerated Strawberries

  • In a medium mixing bowl toss strawberries with 2 Tbsp of the sugar. Cover and let rest in refrigerator while cake is baking and cooling.
  • In a separate medium mixing bowl using an electric hand mixer whip heavy cream until soft peaks form. 
  • Add 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar and whip until stiff peaks form. Store in refrigerator until ready to serve.
  • Recipe source: Cooking Classy
Nutrition Facts
Lemon Ricotta Cake
Amount Per Serving
Calories 354 Calories from Fat 180
% Daily Value*
Fat 20g31%
Saturated Fat 12g75%
Cholesterol 108mg36%
Sodium 101mg4%
Potassium 221mg6%
Carbohydrates 37g12%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 22g24%
Protein 7g14%
Vitamin A 725IU15%
Vitamin C 23.9mg29%
Calcium 130mg13%
Iron 1.3mg7%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutrition values are estimates only. See full disclaimer here.

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232 Comments

  • Sonali

    Can I use almond flour instead of the AP flour? Or substitute part of the AP flour with almond flour?

  • Nicole

    This is the best recipe! Very easy to follow with a fantastic result. It turned out light, although it grew then deflated slightly on cooling. I mixed the flour and ricotta in with my stand mixer on the lowest setting until just incorporated. I’m making it again tomorrow (today was a test cake), I’ll use 150g sugar and cook for 45 minutes @ 170c. Thanks for the recipe :)

    • Jaclyn

      Jaclyn Bell

      It is Fahrenheit, all of my recipes are in Fahrenheit. Hope you enjoy :).

  • JeanneD

    Hi, if I am using cake flour instead of all purpose flour in this recipe, would I use the same amount of flour? If not how much cake flour would I measure?
    Thank you!

  • Joana

    Really good. Just enough sweet, moist and tasty. Used tangerine zest and tastes wonderful.

  • Jeanne DiOrio

    This lemon ricotta cake is delicious. I can’t get enough of it. However, I have made it 4 times and it doesn’t rise as much as pictured and it’s very dense. I tried adding the egg whites at the end and the cake is a little higher but still very dense. I am following the directions to a tee. Nothing is expired. Measurements are exact. I don’t have a stand up mixer so I am mixing with a hand mixer. I cream the butter/sugar/lemon zest till pale and fluffy with the mixer. Should I be using the hand mixer all the way through? For the rest of the ingredients? Or mixing the rest of the ingredients by hand? I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong. Should I try cake flour? Help!!

    • Jaclyn

      Jaclyn Bell

      Glad you like it, but sorry to hear it isn’t coming out as fluffy as you’d like. With a hand mixer you usually have to mix quite a bit more to get the butter to a nice pale and fluffy stage (almost nearing white, this incorporates lots of the air bubbles which help it rise). But you can try folding in the dry ingredients by hand and use cake flour for a fluffier cake.

      • Jeanne D

        Thank you so much! I’m gonna try all of Those ideas. It’s so delicious!

  • Ruby

    Love this cake! We had visited Florence, Italy and every morning the hotel had a breakfast cake which was so delicious. I have been searching all over and trying many recipes to find it. This cake comes very close! I dust confectionary sugar over the top to serve. I have made it numerous times and also have brought it to a house party.

  • Louise M

    We used half polenta flour and half white flour and it still turned out a treat! Great way to use up the ricotta which needed eating. Didn’t have enough ricotta so threw in a couple of spoons of double cream, still delicious :)