Almond Ricotta Cake

We love this almond and ricotta cake so much that we included it in a round-up of our 36 favorite ricotta recipes. The addition of ricotta cheese makes the flavor profile rich, moist, and buttery compared to most other cakes. If you’re not a fan of cakes on the drier side, once you make a ricotta cake, you may never go back to traditional cake recipes.

Very popular in Southern Italy, ricotta cake is baked in several variations, allowing this Italian cheese to shine in the spotlight. You may think of ricotta cheese as an ingredient for lasagna. While this is true, it’s also a good sweetener for cake recipes. This almond and ricotta cake recipe features almonds and can be further “dressed up” with a dusting of powdered sugar or a side of fresh berries.

Ingredients for Almond Ricotta Cake

• Unsalted Butter: The butter should be softened at room temperature before use in this recipe.
• Sugar: Often called granulated sugar, this is the most commonly sold sugar at grocery stores. It’s either white or light brown (not as brown as brown sugar’s hue).
• Eggs: This recipe calls for large eggs, which are easy to find at most grocery stores. If you can’t find them, use two medium eggs instead. Eggs act as a moistener and help the cake form its structure.
• Almond Extract: You can definitely taste almond extract in this cake but it’s subtle enough to not overpower the other flavors.
• Vanilla Extract: This essential ingredient in baking isn’t always detected but is very important in the overall cake recipe. It adds that fluffy texture we love.
• Flour: For this recipe, use all-purpose flour, also called traditional flour, and the most common kind of flour sold at grocery stores.
• Baking Powder: Acting as a leavening agent, baking powder allows your cake to rise.
• Salt: Table salt is what you need here, not rock salt or any kind of flavored salt. In a technical way, this finely ground table salt helps accent other flavors in the recipe. It’s also easier to disperse in the cake batter than a chunky salt.
• Ricotta Cheese: Use whole-milk and not reduced-fat ricotta cheese. Ricotta cheese in a cake recipe makes it fluffier and buttery.
• Sliced Almonds: Sprinkled onto the top of the batter, sliced, raw almonds really drive home the almond flavors in this recipe.
• Confectioners’ Sugar: Also called powdered sugar, confectioners’ sugar is used as an optional topping—dusted on top of the cake after it’s done baking—but not necessary.

Directions

Step 1: Cream the wet ingredients together

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Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. This will take between five and seven minutes by hand, or between two and three minutes using a mixer. Next, add the eggs one at a time and then the almond and vanilla extracts. Beat the batter until these ingredients are well combined.

Editor’s Tip: If it stresses you out to know when creaming butter and sugar is “done,” we’ve got these super tips for you. Hint: look for the tiny peaks to form.

Step 2: Sift the dry ingredients and combine

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Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together until there are no lumps. Gradually add these dry ingredients to the creamed mixture you made earlier, mixing alternately with ricotta.

Step 3: Bake the cake and serve

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Spread the batter into a greased 9-inch springform pan and sprinkle with sliced almonds. Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with moist crumbs. This will take 45 to 50 minutes. Before serving, cool the cake on a wire rack for 15 minutes and use a butter knife to remove the rim from the pan. Allow the cake to completely cool before serving and dust the top with confectioners’ sugar just before slicing.

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Almond Ricotta Cake Variations

• Add fresh raspberries: Fresh raspberries are fun to fold into your baking when in season. In a pinch, you can use frozen raspberries but don’t thaw them first. Instead, take them out of the freezer just before adding to the recipe. Add the raspberries as your final step in the recipe before pouring into a pan and baking.
• Inject zesty lemon flavor: You can easily brighten up the flavor by adding lemon zest (grated portions of a lemon rind) into the batter.

How to Store Almond Ricotta Cake

A rich and buttery cake like this might lead to leftovers but don’t worry, there are easy storage tips that lock in the freshness, whether it’s in the fridge or freezer—and even the countertop at room temperature.

Can you freeze almond ricotta cake?

You can definitely freeze ricotta cake once it’s baked. Ideally, you should remove it from the freezer and eat it within a month. Wrap the cake in plastic wrap to keep it as fresh as possible while frozen.

How long does almond ricotta cake last?

If you leave this cake out at room temperature, it should maintain its flavor for up to three days. After that, the cake dries out.

Can you make almond ricotta cake ahead of time?

If you want to save time on the day you plan to bake, whip up the ingredients ahead of time and store them in a covered container or bowl in the fridge. You should bake the cake no more than a day later, as there are raw eggs in this recipe.

How do you reheat almond ricotta cake?

If you want that “just out of the oven” warmth, simply pop a slice into the microwave for 30 seconds before eating.

Almond Ricotta Cake Tips

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Can I add chocolate chips to this cake?

Just like one of our suggested variations above—where we suggest adding raspberries—enriching this recipe with other ingredients won’t change the composition at all. About 1-1/4 cups of chocolate chips should be enough to ensure you don’t end up with a chocolate cake.

Does ricotta cake taste good with ice cream?

Definitely! Just don’t get the ice cream too close to the cake this moist because it will soak up the ice cream, leaving you with a soggy cake.

Can I turn this recipe into a layered cake?

Just like with our lemon ricotta cake, which features four layers, you can treat this recipe as one layer and then multiply ingredients for the batter by two, three or four. Pour the batter into the number of pans corresponding with the cakes layers.