Vanilla and ricotta cake with lemon icing
This is a super-simple cake that I like to make for my children’s birthdays since it’s delicious (of course!) but also stays very moist, thanks to the extra virgin olive oil and ricotta. I love the contrast of a light cake with zingy lemon icing; for topping, choose slivered pistachios, flaked almonds or celebratory sprinkles.
Ingredients
250g caster sugar
3 eggs
150ml light-flavour extra virgin olive oil
100ml full-cream milk
3 tsp vanilla extract
250g fresh, full-fat ricotta
250g self-raising flour
FOR THE LEMON ICING
300g icing sugar
juice of a lemon
1 tbsp slivered pistachios, flaked almonds or sprinkles
Method
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 170C fan-forced (190C conventional). Grease and line a 23cm round tin.
Step 2
In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs until combined. Add the extra virgin olive oil, milk and vanilla and whisk to combine. Finally, whisk in the ricotta, then the flour. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 50-55 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool briefly, then remove from the tin and allow the cake to cool completely on a wire rack.
Step 3
For the icing, whisk together the icing sugar and enough of the lemon juice to form a thick glaze. You might not need all of the juice. Spread the icing over the cooled cake and top with the pistachios or your desired topping. Allow to set, then serve.
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Julia Busuttil Nishimura is a Melbourne-based cookbook author, Good Weekend columnist and host of Good Food Kitchen.From our partners
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