Ricotta Olive Oil Cake Recipe with Lemon and Almonds

As I look to put my foot down on the foods I chose to make I can’t help but give tribute to the ones who came before us and have done it so well, and thank goodness to whomever created the Olive Oil Cake Recipe.  Why on earth anyone ever thought about putting olive oil in a cake recipe is beyond me, but man did they know what’s up!  There’s a reason the classic recipes are called the classics, it’s because they are ALWAYS delicious.  While I am absolutely obsessed with a lot of these more traditional recipes, whether it be osso bucco or a homemade baguette, I always like to put my little stamp on things.  I do this because I want my cooking techniques and everything I’ve learned over the last 23 years of cooking to slightly influence the dish.

When searching on how to make an olive oil cake, I went straight to BillyParisi.com and saw that I had done some cupcakes a few years back that were olive oil cornmeal based.  Well using similar techniques while swapping out a few ingredients I figured I could at least get close to where I was wanting to go.  I knew in this Ricotta Olive Oil Cake Recipe with Lemon and Almonds I was wanting to use almond meal, lemon zest and ricotta cheese into the base as opposed to the mascarpone cheese I used in the other recipe.  You must know that this is not a vegan or gluten-free cake, I use eggs, ricotta cheese and Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Flour to help stabilize the cake.  However, with that being said you can absolutely take appropriate measures to use things like Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour.

I’ve been using Bob’s Almond Meal since forever, seriously.  I feel like back 5-7 years ago when I started using it, that it was the only one on the shelf.  Bob’s Red Mill is a company that we use almost every day.  They have tons of different flours, grains, legumes, etc. that are all based around the highest quality and health.  All of their flours, including their almond meal, is super well-made and always renders amazing results when I use them in my cooking.  The same goes for this Ricotta Olive Oil Cake Recipe with Lemon and Almonds, it turned out perfectly!

Making an olive oil cake is actually incredibly simple, in fact if I didn’t have to worry about moving a camera around for all the different shots I would have been able to assemble this recipe in under 15 minutes.  From there it’s as simple as transferring it to a spring form pan, or grease cake pan, and baking it.  This olive oil cake recipe definitely is a little bigger than most but it’s because I like a thicker cake.  Sorry, I’ve got a serious sweet tooth so no point in trying to hide it.  I’m just telling you this, so you don’t put the batter into a shallow 9” cake pan and it ends up spilling over the sides.

The most difficult part about this Ricotta Olive Oil Cake Recipe with Lemon and Almonds is having the patience not to eat it while it cools to room temperature.  This part of baking cakes is often looked over but so very crucial to the success of your cake.  When you pull a cake out of the oven it doesn’t magically just stop cooking.  No, in fact it’s called carry over-cooking and this is the time and temperature you have to account for when cooking just about anything.  I believe that if you cut open the cake as soon as you take it out of the oven, that it would be a little bit on the wet side because things have not yet completely come together.  The resting part of the cake is so important, so be sure to give yourself enough time when making this.

There are a few ways that you can finish off this cake.  You can do it by simply sprinkling on some powdered sugar, or you can get fancy and decorate it up with some whipped cream, lemon slices and fresh mint.  When it comes to plating up any dish, you are only limited by your own creativity so be sure to have fun with this part, because before we eat with our mouth we eat with our eyes.  Happy Baking everyone!

Ricotta Olive Oil Cake Recipe with Lemon and Almonds

While this Ricotta Olive Oil Cake Recipe with Lemon and Almonds may sound a little odd because of the use of olive oil, let me ease your tension because this cake is absolutely amazing. The olive oil taste is incredibly subtle and provides fat to the cake along with delicious lemon and almond flavors!

5 from 2 votes

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Course: Dessert

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes

Servings: 1 cake

Author: Chef Billy Parisi

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups of ricotta
• 2/3 cup of olive oil
• 1 ½ cups of sugar
• zest of 1 lemon
• 3 eggs
• 1 ½ cups ap flour
• 3/4 cup of almond meal
• 1 tbl baking powder
• 1/3 tsp soda
• ¾ salt

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350°.
• In a large mixing bowl whisk the ricotta, olive oil, sugar, and zest until completely combined.
• Next, add in one egg at a time and they are completely mixed in.
• In a separate large bowl whisk together the flour, almond meal baking powder, baking soda, and salt until combined. Whisk well to ensure and clumps are removed.
• Transfer the dry ingredients into your wet ingredients and whisk together just until everything is combined.
• Pour the batter into a 9" spring form pan and bake for 60-70 minutes or until browned on top and firm in the center.
• Place the cake onto a cooling rack and let it cool to room temperature before decorating and serving.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Bob’s Red Mill. The opinions and text are all mine.