Ricotta Cake
Ricotta Cake
This is a crustless, light verison of an Italian cheesecake. I find that baking it a day in advance and refrigerating it is not only convenient, but it also makes cutting a bit easier. Ricotta cake goes beautifully with an kind of berry.
Servings
12
Ingredients
- two 15-ounce containers whole-milk ricotta
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, for greasing the pan
- 2 tablespoon flour, plus 1 tablespoon for dusting the pan
- 4 large eggs, separated*
- 1/2 cup sugar
- grated zest of 1 lemon
- 1/2 cup pine nuts
Directions
- Before using the ricotta, it is important to get it as dry as possible. To do this, place the ricotta in a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl. Cover with cling wrap and set a heavy can on top to weigh it down. (This helps the draining process.) Refrigerate for several hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-2-inch springfoam pan with the butter and dust it with 1 tablespoon of the flour. Invert the pan and tap to shake out excess flour.
- In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, the remaining 2 tablespoons flour, the egg yolks, lemon zest, and pine nuts.
- Place the egg whites in the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Using the balloon whisk attachment, beat the whites at high speed until soft, stiff peaks form.
- Gradually beat in the sugar until the whites are stiff.
- With a rubber spatula, fold ½ the whites into the ricotta mixture. Reverse the process and pour the ricotta mixture into the bowl with the remaining whites. Gently blend the ingredients, making a motion like a figure-8 with the spatula, until the egg whites are well combined.
- Spoon the butter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Place the pan on a sheet of aluminum foil on the middle shelf of the oven (in case the batter drips). Bake until the middle of the cake is firm to the touch and the top is golden, about 40 to 45 minutes.
- Cool on a wire rack. The cake will fall a bit. Release the side of the pan, loosen the cake around the edges with a metal spatula, and remove the rim. Cover the cake with cling wrap and refrigerate.