CHERRY RICOTTA CAKE
When it comes to puddings, I'm usually I'm a tart girl but this cake makes for a very good (easy) pud.
I had friends over for lunch last Sunday. I’m BIG on lunches these days, especially those that stretch on till evening. I’m lucky to have a small concrete patch of garden which, in London is really quite special so I try to use it as much as I can. Plus there’s the baby, my daughter Anabel, whose bath time is 5.30 and who if I’m really being honest is the boss of both me and my husband. So boozy dinners have been swapped for slightly less boozy lunches and I have to say, I’m into it! It’s nice to wake up feeling fresh and I also enjoy the obligatory Campari soda when cooking commences at 10am.
I am a prepper through an through but even more so now that I tend to host more lunches than I do dinners. I did pretty much all of the prep for this Sunday lunch the Saturday evening before and managed it in a small 90 min window.
We were BBQing so I would have been marinading the night before anyway. I was making potato salad (anchovy potato salad to be precise…more on this later) and potato salad always tastes better the next day. Pudding was the only thing that were it dinner and not lunch I’d probably just do on the day.
I will always make a pudding when we have people over. It’s the one of the things that really separates it being just dinner (or lunch) to dinner with friends. Even if its a bowl of strawberries with some good shop bought ice cream or some form of roasted fruit with a dollop of cream I’ll do something. If time allows my go-to is a tart but on this occasion I did not have the time and I wanted to do a bit more than strawbs and ice cream.
So I made this cherry ricotta cake. The base of this cake is one that I make a lot, switching the fruit up depending on the season. It’s both light and creamy and works very well as a pudding.
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THE RECIPE
CHERRY RICOTTA CAKE
200g cherries
200g white spelt flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of sea salt
zest of 2 lemons
150g unsalted butter, softened
220g golden caster sugar
250g ricotta
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tbsp amaretto (optional)
Handful flaked almonds
Icing sugar to dust
Heat the oven to 170C fan. Line the base and sides of an 8 inch springform cake tin with parchment.
Remove the stones from the cherries
In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and lemon zest.
Using an electric whisk or stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until light a fluffy. Beat in the ricotta, followed by the vanilla and amaretto. Then slowly pour in the eggs whisking as you do.
Fold in the flour using a spatula or wooden spoon. Spoon the batter into the prepared cake tin. Scatter over the cherries and sprinkle over the almonds.
Bake for 50-60 mins until the centre of the cake is bouncy to touch and an inserted skewer or toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs on it.
Allow the cake to cool for 5 mins in the tin, then remove the sides and cool completely. Dust with icing sugar before serving.
Thanks for reading and see you next week
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