Ricotta Poundcake!

I have not forgotten my blog, but school has officially kicked my butt this semester (in a good way!), so it's hard to do anything other than sit on my butt, drink coffee, and watch Roseanne reruns when I have free time. I have a bunch of pictures of culinary creations that I just haven't gotten around to blogging about. I must get better at posting amid the SLP chaos!

The night before Valentine's Day, I had every intention of making cookies for my classmates. However, after rain-induced traffic in DC, our building's fire alarm going off as I'm pulling into the garage, and food shopping, the thought of all that work exhausted me even more than I already was. I wanted to bake, so I decided on something quick, easy, and just for Hubby and me: delicious, yummy-in-my-tummy ricotta pound cake!

Over Christmas in PA, my mother-in-law made this absolutely amazing ricotta pound cake I had with my coffee on Christmas morning. I prefer poundcake to be dense with a touch of softness, and this was the epitome of perfection! The added Italian goodness of ricotta made it even more scrumptious. The other night as I was daydreaming in Neuro, I emailed her for the recipe. She sent it right away, so Wednesday night I dove in!

Seriously, this cake was so easy to make, and I should have made two and froze one, but I didn't have enough ricotta. I won't even go into how easy it was to make; you can see that below in the recipe. My mother-in-law put alternate directions for some parts (like how to make your own cake flour, which I did!) so you can work it how you like. I did skip the confectioners sugar at the end though.

And here we have it. Possibly my favorite poundcake to date, except for the butter pound cake I made last year for Ken and I, and then again for my parents. That might be my fav, because, well- the amount of butter is incomprehensible and therefore made it out of this world. BUT, this is the runner up if not parallel winner. 

Ohhhhhhh, yummy!!

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups of cake flour (I make my own) joythebaker.com/2009/09/how-to-make-cake-flour/

2 1/2 teapoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon of kosher salt

3/4 cup or 6oz unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups fresh whole milk ricotta ( mine wasn’t whole milk & it turned out perfect)

1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1/2 vanilla bean

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract ( I added a little more because I didn’t use a vanilla bean)

Confectioners sugar for dusting

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F, and position rack in center. Grease and flour a 9-inch loaf pan.

In a medium bowl, sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt, set aside. With your mixer cream together the butter, ricotta, and sugar on medium speed until smooth, about 2 min’s. Beat eggs in one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Split the vanilla bean, scrape out, and beat into the batter along with the extract. On low speed beat in the dry ingredients. Scrape down and beat for 30 seconds more.

Pour batter into prepared pan, smooth down with a spatula. Gently wack pan on counter to remove air pockets. Bake just for 15 min’s, then turn pan 180 degrees to ensure even browning. Lower temp to 325 degrees F and bake till cake springs back lightly, the sides start to pull away, and when it comes out clean in the center, about 25 min’s more.

 Cool on a wire rack, then invert, and sprinkle with 10X sugar.