italian breakfast lemon cake

I’m obsessed w/ lemon cake.

(I’m sure you noticed my passion before …)
Each time when I come across a recipe for some lemon cake I think about recreating it in my kitchen. So this time I read about a version w/ olive oil & ricotta.

The result is fabulous: a soft & fluffy cake, lots of lemon flavor & a freshness from the moist consistence.

I stored the cake on my kitchen counter, covered – after about 4-5 days it was as soft & moist as at the beginning. (Afterwards I put it in the fridge: the cake gets more dense … of course.)

Did I adapt the recipe?

Yes – of course. As a rule I always adapt recipes …

… in order to work w/ the ingredients I have in my pantry resp. I can buy in my trusted food store. Or to work w/ my cooking & baking equipment.

I’ve alway a supply of all-purpose flour – that’s why I prefer to bake w/ this type of flour. (I hate leftovers: when working w/ another type of flour usually you get a packet of 1000 g (or at least 500 g – if it’s special!). You never use this up when baking a special cake – so you get a leftover waiting somewhere in your pantry …)

When the recipe says: it’s 270 g ricotta … I can buy a container w/ ricotta à 250 g. So either I reduce my ricotta amount to 250 g or I buy 2 containers resulting in a leftover of 230 g. Make an educated guess.

I also always activate the fan in my oven – because you need less heat & less baking time. (So you save energy!)

So now let’s pay full attention to the cake!

What do we need?

• all-purpose flour & baking powder
• eggs
• olive oil
• fine sugar
• ricotta
• organic lemons.

The oven: preheat to 160° C fan.

The lemons: grate the zest & press out the juice of one of the lemons.

The loaf tin: line the loaf tin w/ baking parchment.

Then grip your handheld electric mixer & whisk the eggs, the olive oil & the sugar. Add the lemon zest & the lemon juice – & whisk. Add the flour w/ the baking powder – then the ricotta.

Finally pour the mess in the loaf tin & let it bake at 160° C fan for about 45 min. (Make the famous test w/ the wooden pin …)

W/ help of the baking parchment you can lift the cake after about 10 min of cooling down after the oven session.

The cake is simple, but delicious. You may have a slice of cake for breakfast w/ your coffee or in the afternoon w/ your special energy shot of espresso … or a slice of cake after dinner.

Enjoy!