Recipe: Ricotta Olive Oil Cake

This cake is a one-bowl wonder — there’s no need for a wet and dry ingredient bowl, the dry ingredients are simply sprinkled over top of the wet. And, there’s no need to wait for frozen berries to thaw; if using, tossing them with the extra tablespoon of flour before folding them in will help to reduce streaks of colour in the cake. However, using frozen strawberries for this cake is not recommended, as they lose a lot of water in the oven and will leak all over the cake.

Ingredients

• 8 oz or ½ cup ricotta cheese
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ¾ cup olive oil
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Zest of one lemon, grated
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (+ 1 tbsp if using frozen berries)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 ½ cups fresh or frozen berries, divided (blueberries, blackberries, raspberries or cranberries)
• Icing sugar to garnish

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350F degrees and spray a bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine ricotta cheese, sugar, olive oil, eggs, vanilla extract and lemon zest. Whisk until thoroughly combined and smooth. Sprinkle baking powder, flour and salt over ricotta mixture, and fold in with a spatula until just combined. Gently fold in 1 ½ cups of berries (if using frozen fruit, toss with 1 tbsp flour first). Pour batter into prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake in preheated oven for 45-50 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool completely in pan. Just before serving, sprinkle with icing sugar.