Raspberry and dark chocolate lemon ricotta cake

A couple of weeks ago, on what seemed liked a perfectly ordinary Friday, a miracle happened in my kitchen.

I got a cake to rise.

Everyone was surprised, not least me when I tried to take it out of the oven and realised it had risen into the shelf above it. I managed to untangle it though, and took it out without dropping it or it collapsing or anything, so we were all good.

I am notoriously bad at getting large cakes to rise. I don’t know why, I follow all the tips, but they just don’t like me. My Victoria sponges come always come out looking more like giant biscuits and for the girls’ birthdays I’ve been known to make several cakes and stack them all on top of each other, just to try and create a normal looking birthday cake.

This rapsberry and dark chocolate ricotta cake though, I don’t know what it was, but wow, it was the height of an ACTUAL cake. A baking miracle.

raspberry and chocolate ricotta cake recipe

Look at that! Proper chunky.

This cake is slightly different to cakes I’ve made before in that it’s made with a tub of ricotta. Not JUST ricotta obviously, we’re not playing sandcastles, just ricotta as an extra. The ricotta does make for a a very soft, moist sponge, so perhaps this helped with the rising? Who knows. I’ll be making it again, that’s for sure.

The lemon zest is only one lemon but it goes a long way and is the perfect balance to the richness and sweetness of the dark chocolate and raspberries, even if I do say so myself. I like the raspberries and the chocolate being on the top of the cake – I think it makes it look fancy.

raspberry and chocolate lemon cake

Looks good doesn’t it?

I know.

If you’d like you make your own raspberry and dark chocolate lemon ricotta cake then you’re in luck because it’s dead easy and I’m about to tell you how. So get your pinny on, get the scales out and let’s go.

Raspberry and dark chocolate lemon ricotta cake  – ingredients

Okay, time to get to the supermarket. To make this delicious lemon ricotta cake you will need:

  • 150g unsalted butter
  • 250g caster sugar
  • Zest of one lemon
  • 3 eggs
  • 200g plain flour
  • 2.5 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 250g tub of ricotta
  • 50g dark chocolate
  • 100g fresh raspberries

lemon ricotta cake

Raspberry and dark chocolate lemon ricotta cake – method

Grease and line a 9 inch cake tin and preheat the oven to 180C (170C for a fan oven). Cube the butter and if it’s straight from the fridge pop it in the microwave just for a quick spin to soften it. Beat it together with the sugar and lemon zest for a few minutes until it’s really pale and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating between each until well combined. Add half the flour, baking powder and salt and stir gently until just combined. Then stir in the ricotta and the rest of the flour, giving it a quick beat until it’s smooth. Tip your cake batter into the tin and then scatter the top with the raspberries and chocolate. Pop it into the oven for about 55 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Make sure you leave space for rising!

That’s it. All you have to do then is eat it, which isn’t exactly a hardship.

lemon ricotta cake

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1 Comment

  1. 12 September, 2020 / 5:42 pm

    Looks and sounds delicious. Different with the ricotta.

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