Meyer Lemon Ricotta Cake

This meyer lemon ricotta cake is a bright and lovely! Fresh Meyer lemons are zested and mixed with ricotta cheese making this one unbelievable cake!

What does one do when they see a bag of perfect, adorable, bright and beautiful meyer lemons? You buy two bags of them, right? Obviously.

Meyer lemons have the best of both citrus worlds. They’re like a lemon and mandarin orange melded in one citrus fruit. I love them because they aren’t as acidic as a regular lemon (although my weather-cracked hands would disagree) and they have that subtle orange-y scent. So there I was with not one but TWO bags of meyer lemons and really no idea what I was going to do with them.

Until I cleaned out my fridge.

I always need to completely empty the fridge out and re-organize before I put away any new groceries. That’s when I find and cringe at the fact that I have 6 boxes of butter, 3 opened jars of grainy Dijon and lots (and I mean LOTS) of stacked leftover containers and I won’t even tell you how many different cheeses I have. Five… okay eight. I’m a food hoarder. I’m certain.

So while I was rearranging my cheese drawer I spotted the tub of ricotta leftover from this recipe. I thought I’d make a cake my favorite way using a loaf pan. No layers and zero frosting. So in celebration of it being Friday I made us a cake.

To Make This Meyer Lemon Cake You Will Need:

• unbleached all-purpose flour
• kosher salt
• baking powder
• zest and juice from Meyer lemons
• sugar
• eggs
• butter (melted and cooled slightly)
• vanilla
• ricotta cheese
• half & half
• powdered sugar

Start by measuring the 1-1/4 cup of all purpose flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl.

Whisk to combine and set that bowl off to the side.

Zest four meyer lemons.

Add that to a bowl along with a cup of sugar.

I then used my impeccably clean hands and rubbed the sugar into the zest. It should resemble wet sand… and it should smell amazing because the sugar brings out the moisture of the zest and it’s heavenly.

Juice all of the lemons over a mesh strainer to catch the seeds. You’ll need 1/4 cup for the cake and 2 to 3 for the glaze later.

Speaking of juice. Add a quarter cup to the zest/sugar mixture.

Crack in two eggs.

Add 1/3 cup of butter that is melted but has cooled.

Trust me you don’t want to scramble those eggs in there.

Add in a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

And whisk to combine.

In a measuring cup or bowl combine the 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese and two tablespoons of half and half.

Stir until smooth.

To the egg/sugar/zest mixture add about 1/3 of the whisked dry ingredient and stir until just combined.

Add in half of the ricotta mixture and whisk. Repeat with another third of the dry ingredients, then the ricotta and ending with the last third of the dry ingredients. Whisking in between of course.

You now should have a beautiful cake batter. 

And I always say, you can tell a lot about a cake by how good the batter tastes. Go on… you know you want to.

Pour the batter into a loaf pan that has been lightly sprayed {I used my mister} and then lined with parchment paper.

Spread the batter so it’s smooth on top and then bake it in a preheated 350° oven for 50-55 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Let the cake cool for 10 minutes before running a knife along the edges of the cake and using the parchment paper as “handles” to remove the cake from the loaf pan.

Let the cake cool COMPLETELY before drizzling it with icing, or else you’ll have a huge melted icing mess on your hands-err counter.

let’s make the icing!

For the icing you’ll want a cup of powdered sugar. Place that into a mesh strainer that’s sitting over a medium bowl.

Carefully sift the powdered sugar into the bowl. Doing this will break up any clumps and make whisking in the meyer lemon juice easy and clump free.

While whisking, slowly pour in a little of the juice at a time.

Stop when it reaches a thick yet pourable consistency. If it gets too thin just add a little more powdered sugar.

Perfect.

Now just pour it all over that cake.

Those drips are my favorite. Pssst! check out that side drip! *swoon*

Slice and serve!

The flavor of this meyer lemon ricotta cake is subtle… but when you get a bite with the frosting it’s like a meyer lemon kick to your taste buds.

It took everything I had to not swipe a bite while shooting this piece-o-cake because it’s that good! Meyer lemon ricotta cake makes me happy. And it also makes me hopeful for all this dang snow to melt and that maybe there will actually be a spring this year.

Until then, let’s eat cake.

Enjoy! And if you give this Meyer Lemon Ricotta Cake recipe a try, let me know! Snap a photo and tag me on twitter or instagram!

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Yield: 8 servings

Meyer Lemon Ricotta Cake

This meyer lemon ricotta cake is a bright and lovely! Fresh Meyer lemons are zested and mixed with ricotta cheese making this one unbelievable cake!

Prep Time: 35 minutes mins

Cook Time: 55 minutes mins

Total Time: 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Ingredients

!FOR THE CAKE:

• 1¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 4 meyer lemons, zest and juice
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup butter, melted and has cooled slightly
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
• 2 tablespoons half & half, see notes

FOR THE GLAZE:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 to 3 tablespoons reserved meyer lemon juice, strained

Equipment

• USA Pan 1140LF Bakeware Aluminized Steel 1 Pound Loaf Pan, Small, Silver

Instructions 

MAKE THE CAKE:

• Preheat your oven to 350° and lightly spray and line a loaf pan with parchment paper.
• In a medium bowl whisk together the all purpose flour, salt and baking powder. Set it off to the side.
• In a large bowl combine a cup of sugar and the zest from 4 meyer lemons. Use your fingers to rub the sugar into the zest.
• Add in 1/4 cup of freshly squeezed (and strained to catch seeds) meyer lemon juice. Crack in two eggs, pour in the melted (and cooled) butter, the teaspoon of vanilla and whisk to combine.
• In a small bowl combine the 1/2 cup ricotta and the two tablespoons of half and half, stir until smooth.
• To the egg/sugar mixture; add one third of the dry ingredients and whisk until just combined. Add in have of the ricotta mixture and whisk some more. Repeat with the dry ingredients and ricotta. Mixing after each addition.
• Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50-55 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
• Let the cake cool for 10 minutes before running a knife around the edges and using the parchment paper as handles to lift the cake out of the pan. Allow the cake to cool completely before topping it with the glaze.

MAKE THE GLAZE:

• Add a cup of powdered sugar to a mesh strainer that is set over a medium bowl. Sift the powdered sugar into the bowl. Slowly whisk in a tablespoon at a time of the reserved meyer lemon juice until you've reached the desired consistency.
• Pour the glaze over the cooled cake.
• Serve once the glaze has had a chance to harden.

Notes

If you can't get half & half, just use equal parts milk and heavy cream.

Serving: 1piece, Calories: 346kcal, Carbohydrates: 56g, Protein: 6g, Fat: 11g, Saturated Fat: 7g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 3g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 76mg, Sodium: 444mg, Potassium: 68mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 40g, Vitamin A: 386IU, Vitamin C: 2mg, Calcium: 78mg, Iron: 1mg

Author: Laurie McNamara

Course: Desserts & Sweet Treats

Cuisine: American