A ricotta citrus cake, made with blood orange and lemon, is my take on the traditional Italian migliaccio, with a delightfully spongy center and a crisp top.
Ingredients
2 cups milk
2 cups water
2.5 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 lemons
3 blood oranges
1 cup semolina flour
0.5 cups AP flour
4 eggs
1.5 cups sugar
1 cup ricotta
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla bean powder
1 teaspoon good lemon extract
Instructions
Using a sharp knife, peel two lemons and two orange in wide strips, avoiding any of the white bitter pith.
On the stovetop, combine milk, water, vanilla, and citrus peels in a medium sized pot. Bring to a gentle simmer, whisking often. Continue to whisk as you slowly add in the semolina flour, followed by the AP flour and the lemon extract. Whisk together until as smooth as possible, though it doesn't have to be perfect just yet!
Turn the batter mixture out onto a parchment lined baking sheet to cool. Once cool, remove the citrus peel.
Preheat oven to 390F. Finely zest the remaining lemon and orange using a microplane grater.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together eggs and sugar until light yellow and fluffy. Slowly add in the ricotta cheese and the citrus zest, mix to combine. Now gradually add in the batter mixture and combine until just smooth (try not to overbeat).
Pour the cake batter into a parchment lined round cake pan and bake for about 1 hour until the middle is just set.
Let the cake cool before slicing and dusting with powdered sugar.
Recipe by Saffron and Honey at https://saffronandhoney.com/winter-citrus-migliaccio/