Louisa's Cake
Louisa's ingredients: ricotta, flour, butter, apple, lemon zest, sugar and eggs.
Flouring the pan.
Amanda looks skeptical. As a matter of fact, so does Merrill.
Nothing but smiles now. We're making cake!
This one starts with the classic butter and sugar combo.
3 eggs give it lift and richness.
Bowls, bowls everywhere!
Once you peel the apple, you'll want to grate and use it quickly -- it browns in an instant.
Back to Amanda, at the mixer -- she adds the flour, salt and baking powder (missing from the ingredient shot).
Amanda dangles the ricotta precariously.
A gentle touch is important at the end.
The batter is light and beautiful.
The cake almost looks like a frittata when it emerges from the oven.
Author Notes: Louisa is a family friend, gardener and chef from Castellina in Chianti, Italy, where we gather several times a year. She cooks everything from memory and threw this together one night last spring. When we pressed her for the recipe she hastily rattled some ingredients off and we scrambled to write it all down on a napkin. Along with my husband and children, we've tested this cake about 6 times, and friends are constantly asking for the recipe. —SML Office —Jennifer Wagner
Food52 Review: Only a true Italian nonna could produce something this ethereal with such a simple list of ingredients. SML Office got the recipe for this cake from a family friend in Chianti (Louisa), and to us it's the epitome of a classic Italian dessert. It's airy and light, but not without integrity: ricotta, eggs and plenty of butter give it richness, grated apple lends heft, and lemon zest rescues it from being at all bland. The cake is gently sweetened, and thus equally suited to breakfast and dessert. We think it would be great with something tangy and fresh, like a fruit compote -- and rhubarb season is coming up! - A&M —The Editors
Serves 6
- 9 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 cup fresh ricotta
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 apple, peeled and grated (should yield about 1 cup)
- Confectioners' sugar for serving
- Heat the oven to 400° F. Butter and flour a 9- or 10-inch springform pan.
- Cream the butter and sugar in a standing mixer until light and fluffy.
- On the lowest speed, add the eggs one at a time.
- Slowly add the flour, salt, ricotta, lemon zest, baking powder, and apple.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the cake is golden brown and the sides start to pull away from the pan.
- Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Turn the cake out of the pan and cool completely on the rack. Sift confectioners' sugar over the top or serve with your favorite seasonal fruit.
- Your Best Recipe with Fresh Ricotta Contest Winner!
More Great Recipes:
Cheese & Dairy|Cakes|Desserts|Ricotta
Topics: Cake, Dessert, Italian Cooking, Cheese, Fruit, Easter
Showing out of comments
13 days ago Rachel Pope
It is so interesting to follow all the comments on this cake and mostly all complimentary and positive. This has become one of my favorites and fun to make. I have made a strawberry sauce and a raspberry sauce to spoon over it and all of my friends love it.
13 days ago Loraine Mena
This was a wonderful cake, especially considering how easy it is and the small amount of ingredients. It will be my new go-to cake for when I have guests over.
13 days ago Charlotte Bovee
This was amazing. Everyone loved it and it was super easy. I used a granny smith grated it and then pulsed it a few times with my stick blender. My cake was a little giggly in the middle when it came out of the oven but I was patient and let it rest and cool and everything settled into place perfectly. MAKE THIS CAKE!!
24 days ago bobbie joh
this is now the official "perfect cake" in my home. easy to make, ethereal texture, wonderful flavor. I cut down the amount of sugar, as I always do with desserts. Also, i have to cook it about 3 minutes longer than recommended: make sure it is slightly golden AND pulling away from the sides as per instructions. absolutely wonderful cake!
28 days ago Michelle Trim
Gorgeous cake. I just made the recipe as written, but had to use a tube pan because I couldn't find my springform pan. My apple turned brown quickly - it was one of the crunchy pink varieties - but I didn't mind. It still came out wonderful, and was done at 27 min.
about 1 month ago Eileen
Which type of apple is best for this recipe?
about 1 month ago Renee B
We use Granny Smiths for this fantastic cake. I say we but my husband is the one who bakes it. It's delicious. Not showy but the flavor and texture are fantastic.
about 1 month ago Julie
Unfortunately my cake did quite look like the picture? My cake wasn't fluffy and brown, as shown in the picture . In fact I thought it was very disappointing, not something to brag about.
about 1 month ago kasia S.
Practice makes perfect.
about 2 months ago Luisa
Louisa=Luisa Italian/Spanish spelling
3 months ago Sue Peckelis
I made this cake twice already and am an inexperienced lousy cook and it came out lovely. A go to recipe. SCORE!
3 months ago Yoan Chan
I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but I must admit that this recipe does not set people up for success. For example, why are we measuring butter in tablespoons? Nobody should measure butter in tablespoons unless it's melted--it's just not practical! Also, baking a cake in a 400 degree oven for the entire duration is a recipe for disaster, especially if it is baked in a vessel as thin as a spring form pan. This cake does not need to be baked at such a high temperature! Lastly, the recipe does not mention in what order we are to add the wet and the dry ingredients--it just says to slowly add everything. Are we slowly adding everything in intervals? Do we sift the dry ingredients together first before adding them in? What end result are we trying to achieve? Should we be trying to encourage a bit of gluten development or are we minimizing it in this instance? I'm not trying to be overly critical--it's just that these ingredients are expensive and time-consuming to produce (like freshly-made ricotta cheese) and it would be such a shame to have them go to waste when just a few revisions to the recipe could have such a glorious impact on the end result!
3 months ago Melissafitz
Not sure if you've made this cake, but (as so many people have attested) it's pretty perfect as written! Give it a shot! And with regard to the butter measurements, I'm going to assume that you're abroad (I.e., don't live in the US) and that you're using butter packaged a different way from the US, which (for the most part) is clearly marked with tablespoon measurements. But if you weigh your butter, a good rule of thumb is 8 Tbsp = 4oz/113 gr. Hope that helps you and that you give this recipe a shot.
3 months ago Yoan Chan
Melissa! I have made this cake twice! And yes, you are right--I don't live in the States. I live in Canada. Not sure what the demographics of the people who frequent this site are, but I would imagine it to be useful to provide measurements that are more universal. I personally love using grams because it's a measurement that is both exact and hassle-free and provides for the quickest clean-up as it requires the fewest tools.
3 months ago Melissafitz
I totally agree on weighing ingredients, but most Americans aren't there yet. :)
3 months ago Donna Hayes
So yeah, started making it and then realized I didn't have an apple, or applesauce. No appley anything. No worries, it still tasted fine. Not squishy, as some have noted, baked in a ceramic dish. Second day, getting a wee bit dry, drizzle with some Saba. If you don't have this, get some, it's delicious! Unaged, cooked grape must. Mmmm.
3 months ago SandraM
Made this cake with store bought ricotta last night. It turned out beautifully.
Sprinkled the top with raw cane sugar flavoured with grapefruit (before baking).
The cake was moist and flavourful. Will definitely be making this again as it is so quick to prepare.
12 days ago Erinn
Did you bake it the entire time with the cane sugar, or add it half way through?
3 months ago Ying
I made this cake a few weeks ago, using some questionable self rising flour because that's all I had on hand. It was delicious, though slightly deflated. I baked at 400 for probably closer to 40-45 minutes, ended up with a nice brown crust all around, still moist. Kept it room temp for a few days, then wrapped up the leftover pieces to freeze; I just had a piece from the freezer, still delicious, which reminded me to comment!
5 months ago Tim
At the risk of sounding like one of "those" people who change the recipes -- this would qualify as an emergency hack... I didn't have an apple, so I used a 1/4 cup of apple sauce. Pleased to report it came out OK. I did add about 5 minutes to the bake time. I'm guessing this cake could withstand even the most ham-handed hacks and still be pretty good. Rod (below) is onto something with the broiler... I usually put the leftover/day old cake under the broiler for a minute to caramelize the top and edges. Gives it a nice, subtle crunch which makes a nice difference.
5 months ago Rod
This is an outstanding recipe. I followed the directions exactly and didn't have the sagging center problem that others report. I did flash it under a broiler (very watchfully) just to carmelize the top a little. Because I had made a batch of Mandarin Orange Marmalade earlier that day, I whipped up some marmalade butter-cream and piped that around the top. Really took it over the top.
6 months ago Sue Peckelis
Excellent. Leftovers next day, I reheated a slice in the microwave 15 seconds and it was even better. Very buttery.
6 months ago francesca
try tapping the cake pan with the batter before putting it in the oven. That helps prevent the deflating, also, check your expiration on your baking powder. That also may have an effect! I am wondering, what kind of apple does everyone use and when you grate it, then mix with the mixer the apple gets all crushed up, are you suppose to fold in the apple? a bit confusing. Also I am assuming not to squeeze out the liquid from the apple?
7 months ago Terry
I also have made this cake twice and the center sinks a lot. I am not a novice. Any ideas??
6 months ago Reena
My best guess is that it's just a touch undercooked. At the designated time, I jiggled the pan and it still looked a little wet in the middle so I just cooked it a few minutes more until the middle just set.
8 months ago Vita Karoblytė
I have made this cake twice now and everyone loves it! But I have a problem. After I take it out of the oven, it deflates in the middle and turns all moist and loses the cake texture. It tastes wonderful but it looks nothing like in the picture. What am I doing wrong?
8 months ago parentslurp
Amazing
Showing 27 out of 279 comments