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
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 30 min
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9
tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
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1
cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
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3
large eggs
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1 1/4
cups all-purpose flour
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1
pinch salt
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1
cup fresh ricotta
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Zest of 1 lemon
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1
tablespoon baking powder
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1
apple, peeled and grated (should yield about 1 cup)
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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!
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I've just made this cake and I adored its beautiful simplicity. A kind of elegant roughness.
Many thanks to Louisa who kindly shared this recipe and thanks to the community and its valuable comments. Best wishes from Mexico City! Grazie mille Louisa!
400 degrees for 30 minutes. Didn't test for doneness. Unfortunately, the center didn't cook. Perfectly dark top, so I'm not sure how much longer I could've gone anyway. Next time, I'm definitely toothpick testing the center. Love the cake. As my apples waited to get put in, there was a TON of watery juice from the apples that I drained before adding the apples. Anyone add the apples along with their juice? Thanks.
I had same experience. Cake was not done in 30 min. Was kind of burnt. Took 50 min to bake. Had to turn upside down so no one see the dark brown....
came out delicious.
Made the cake again today. Here is what I did different than last time. I grated the apple in separate bowl and squeeze the juice out of it, lightly. Voila! Perfect cake!
I have made this cake several times in Florida but for the first time at my house in Santa Fe and it is sinking a bit in the center...had to take it out after 20 minutes but the tester came out clean. Any thoughts?
Susan, in Santa Fe you will need to cut down the baking powder to 2 tsp. At high altitude, things rise more quickly, and then they collapse or sink, so if you cut down the leavening, it helps a lot. I would also add 1 Tbs. milk to the ricotta, and reduce the sugar to 1 cup. Also, things do bake much more quickly at altitude, so it makes sense to me that it only took 20 minutes to bake.
This is such a helpful response. I'm an amateur cook and you don't know how much I've upped my game thanks to this kind of advice. Thanks all the way up from Mexico City, at a whopping 7382 ft above sea level!
Love this cake so much. Works perfectly every time and is super simple to make. I've let it sit on the counter for a few days and it still tastes great. Has anyone tried freezing it? If so, how did it go?
I made the peach version last week and put leftovers in the freezer. When it thawed, it was still perfect. :) I put it in my bag before going on a trip, everyone loved it the first night there after dinner.
Delicious! I served it with a rhubarb compote and it was heaven.
A huge hit with my guests who took leftovers home for breakfast.
Has anyone tried to make this a layer cake with light whipped cream or something?
I usually put cream and raspberries on top. Think you could double the recipe and cook in three tins, but the texture of the cake probably wouldn't allow you to cut thinner layers.
This is over the top amazing! Wonderful flavor. We used a 6 inch springform pan (didn't have a 9). The batter rose up and over the top, it was actually pretty. We paired it with Roasted Strawberries (unbelievably easy) and a dollop of Mascarpone Whipped Frosting by inpatskitchen (Food 52 recipe also).
OMG, finally made this and am eating my second slice. All I changed was I added some lemon juice to the bowl with the grated apple, half a lemon. I like things pretty lemony. Also, followed the advice about room temperature eggs and butter. cooked it for 35 minutes in a 9 inch springform and Wow, oh wow. The double vanilla cake is still my favorite at Food52, but this is a very close second.
So delicious and easy. Will definitely be making again and again!
This cake is incredible!
Fantastic cake,so easy to make!
Made this last night...so easy and soooo good. Not a last minute cake as you do need to make sure that the wet ingredients are room temp, but given it is no fail and 15 minutes to prepare, it will definitely be on my go to list from now on...actually going to have a piece for breakfast now.
Oh, my gosh, I just made this again to rave reviews and then had to share the recipe with a friend from Maine and another from Pennsylvania. This time I made a Driscoll's Raspberry sauce and whipped cream to "gild the lily!" It was divine!
where has this recipe been all my life? how did i miss this? the only reason i found it was i saw a tweet about the 'most saved recipe ever" on food52.
i have made it twice. it is so easy. it is so incredibly delicious. it is elegant to look at just sitting there with powdered sugar clinging on top.
oh my goodness, what a find!
This cake is amazing. I serve with a dollop if homemade whipped cream and fresh berries. For some reason, I’ve noticed the cake tastes even better the next day - it gets more moist.
Thank you for sharing this flavorful and delicious cake, Jennifer. We enjoyed the first piece warm-yum!
I brought this to a gathering after a large memorial service for a beloved artist. It was the only dessert. The texture of this cake is very moist but holds together very solidly. Instead of wedges, I cut off two edges and cut the rest into neat squares. Like the loaves & fishes, it fed a lot of people. It was the kind of cake you could hold in your hand and eat, nice for buffet-style serving.
A lovely, simple but memorable cake. Buttery lemon flavor, pillowy moist crumb. Had made it the afternoon prior, left it out on counter. Mine sank in the middle while cooling but that moister, custardy bit was actually a bonus in the end. Served it dusted with confectioner's sugar with a side topping of whipped heavy cream mixed with Greek yogurt (I whip my cream 75% of the way, add 25% Greek yogurt, vanilla & sugar and continue whipping) + raspberries. Four of us polished off the cake at lunch. Will be making this again.
I made this this weekend and it was amazing! My oven actually took the entire 30 minutes and came out perfect! Such a light and easy dessert!
So I had a problem with this cake starting to burn. What did I do wrong. Had to take it out at 23 minutes! 400 degrees and the oven is fine.
Mine started to brown too quickly too. I just covered it with aluminum foil to prevent the top from burning. Came out great!
It may be the nonstick dark grey spring form pan I used. The problem with being too well done was on the sides and bottom edges.
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