Orange Ricotta Cake
A slightly sweet cake that works well for dessert, snack, or breakfast is a gift for what can become the busiest month of the year. You can make loaves to wrap in brown paper and string to give as gifts or you can just use the orange scented sugar to put in pretty jars wrapped in ribbon. Making it simple to feel the grounding experience of rubbing the orange zest in the sugar, chopping almonds, and watching the batter magically turn to a beautiful cake is a gift to yourself.
Ingredients:
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup ricotta
½ cup melted butter or olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cup flour
1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
zest from one large or two smaller oranges, save a bit for the topping
2 tablespoons almonds, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons sugar
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Melt the butter and let it cool slightly. Meanwhile, mix the sugar and orange zest together. Use your fingers and rub it together until the sugar turns a golden yellow color and absorbs oils from the zest. Add the eggs and mix with the sugar using a whisk until little frothy bubbles appear on top. Add your vanilla and salt and keep mixing. This helps the sugar dissolve evenly so the cake is evenly sweet throughout! Add the ricotta and mix thoroughly. At this point your butter should be cooled enough to add to the mixture. Stir it through. Sift your flour with the baking soda if there are any lumps. Add to the wet ingredients and fold together. It will be a fairly thick batter which will make a wonderfully sturdy cake. Spread the batter in a buttered 8x8 pan (you can use wet fingers to gently coax it to the edges). In a small bowl add the tiny bit of saved orange zest with the 2 tablespoons of sugar and chopped almonds. Mix it with your fingers. Sprinkle all over the surface of the cake. Bake for about 28 minutes until the edges are golden and the middle is firm. Enjoy any which way you’d like, perhaps with a cup of tea on a blustery afternoon.
