Lemon Ricotta Pound Cake

I love the texture of this cake. The major contributors are the use of cake flour (versus ap flour) and of course the ricotta cheese! Lemon is what gets me going but orange works well with this too. Try it with some strawberries as you would strawberry shortcake. Its too yummy to pass up.

• Ready In: 1 hr 5 mins
• Serves: 6-8
• Yields: 1 loaf

Ingredients

• 1 1⁄2 cups cake flour
• 2 1⁄2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1  teaspoon salt
• 3⁄4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1⁄2 ricotta cheese, whole milk
• 1 1⁄2 cups sugar
• 3  eggs, large
• 1  teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2  lemons, zest of
• 1  lemon, juice of

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Whip together butter and ricotta cheese. This recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups. I use an entire 15 oz container.
3. Add sugar and blend.
4. Beat in one egg at a time until combined.
5. Contine adding extract, zest, and juice. You may scale back the amount of zest. I love the flavor punch, so I use the zest of two lemons.
6. In a separate bowl whisk together dry ingredients.
7. Combine wet with dry turning mixture into a greased 9x5x3 loaf pan.
8. Bake about 50 minutes. Because of the ricotta cake may have a slight wiggle.
9. If you wish, stem and slice strawberries. Add a few tablespoons of sugar and the juice of the remaining lemon. This is a great topping for the cake.