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–+ servings
Ricotta cake recipe an italian cake from Sicily made with ricotta

TORTA DI RICOTTA

Ingredients

FOR THE SPONGE
  • 5 eggs, separated
  • pinch of salt
  • 150 g (5 oz/generous ⅔ cup) caster (superfine) sugar
  • 75 g (2½ oz/ ½ cup) potato flour or cornflour
  • 75 g (2½ oz/ scant ⅔ cup) ‘00’ flour, plus extra for dusting
  • finely grated zest of ½ lemon
FOR THE SYRUP
  • 150 ml (5 fl oz/ scant ⅔ cup) marsala
  • 25 ml (1 fl oz) water
FOR THE FILLING
  • 750 g (1 lb 10 oz/ 3 cups) ricotta
  • 150 g (5 oz/ generous ⅔ cup caster) (superfine) sugar
  • 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
  • 25 g (1 oz/ 2 tablespoons) dark (bittersweet) chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids), broken into pieces
FOR THE COATING
  • 100 ml (3½ fl oz/ scant ½ cup) whipping cream
  • 250 g (9 oz/ 1 cup) ricotta
  • 1 tablespoon runny honey or caster, superfine sugar, to taste
  • 200 g (7 oz) toasted flaked almonds or hazelnuts or pistachios
  • 25 g (1 oz/ scant ¼ cup) coarsely grated dark (bittersweet) chocolate
  • 25 g (1 oz/ scant ¼ cup) icing (confectioner’s) sugar
  • butter, for greasing

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F/Gas 3) and grease and flour a 23 cm (9 in) cake tin.
Whip the egg whites to soft peaks in a spotlessly clean bowl with a pinch of salt. Slowly pour in 100 g (3½ oz/scant ½ cup) of the sugar while whisking. Mix the yolks with the remaining sugar in another bowl, until pale and creamy, then use a spatula to fold the two together. Sift in the two flours, add the lemon zest and fold them in. Pour into the prepared tin and cook for 30–35 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre. When cooked, remove from the tin and allow to cool on a rack.
 Meanwhile, make the filling by draining the ricotta and mixing the ingredients, except for the chocolate, together in a bowl.
  • Carefully cut a 1 cm (½ in) thick disc from the top of the cake and set aside. Next cut a 2 cm (¾ in) disc, leaving you with a final one of 1 cm (½ in). Lay one of the shallower discs back in the tin with the outside surface downwards. Next cut a circle from the thicker disc so that you are left with a ring of around 1 cm (½ in) – this will make the border around the hole for the filling. Place it into the tin and eat the centre as a cook’s treat! Mix together the ingredients for the syrup and brush two-thirds over the sponge.
  • Fill the hole with the ricotta filling mixture. Melt the chocolate briefly in a microwave or in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. Spread the melted chocolate over the final disc of sponge with a palette knife.
Invert this over the cake and press down lightly. Brush on the remaining syrup. Leave the cake to rest in the fridge for at least 6 hours and up to a day. Turn out of the mould.
  • Whip the cream to form soft peaks and fold into the ricotta and honey or sugar. Use a palette knife to spread this evenly over the cake. Finish the coating with a sprinkling of nuts, grated chocolate and icing sugar. Chill in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour or up to a day before serving.