A delicious cake recipe from Victoria’s Don Genova, a journalist specializing in writing and broadcasting about food and travel, that I’ve been making every Italian Prune Plum season. It’s easy to make and tastes so good!
Makes one 9” Cake
1 cup fresh, full-fat ricotta cheese
1/3 cup olive oil
1 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp. freshly grated lemon zest
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 ½ cups unbleached flour Note: see below
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
9-12 small plums (my preference is Italian Prune Plums)
1 Tbsp. sugar or honey (0ptional)
Confectioner’s sugar for dusting after cake has cooled
Preheat oven to 350F
Either butter and flour a 9” springform pan or spray with baking spray.
Measure the dry ingredients into a sieve set over a bowl and set aside. (if using almond flour add it to the batter later).
In a large mixing bowl, combine and whisk together the ricotta, sugar and lemon zest. Add one egg, whisk well; add the next egg, whisking well again.
Sift the dry ingredients over this mixture. If using almond flour sprinkle it over top of the dry ingredients. Fold the dry ingredients gently into the wet ingredients until just combined.
Pour the batter into the cake pan, spreading it out evenly if necessary. If your plums are VERY tart, toss them with a tablespoon of sugar or honey and place then on the top of the cake, cut-side down. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until the top of the cake is golden brown, the edges are pulling away from the pan slightly and a cake tester or toothpick comes out of the cake cleanly.
Cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes then remove the sides of the springform and allow to finish cooling on a rack.
Dust with confectioner’s sugar and serve slightly warm or at room temperature.
For a special treat you can serve the cake with whipped cream or whipped mascarpone.
You can make the whipped mascarpone by whipping together 1 cup mascarpone cheese, 1 cup chilled whipping cream, 4 tbsp. sugar and 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract.
Note: I’ve changed things up a bit recently by using 1 cup unbleached flour and ½ cup almond flour.
