These orange ricotta olive oil cakes bring back more memories of Italia and this time last fall spent in the Tuscan olive groves of Villa Lena. I know I appreciated our leisurely days spent there at the time, but boy, would I appreciate therm extra now.. Moms, you know what I am talking about!
This dough is almost bouncy – I am not sure how else to describe it – and has this pleasant pillowy bite. The cakes smell subtly of orange blossoms and are instantly transportive, something we could all, perhaps, use these days even more so than normal.
I used Cara Cara oranges here, but use whatever oranges you prefer, whose zest is fragrant and fresh. You can also slice the cakes in half and fill with raspberry jam or orange marmalade – the dough itself is not overwhelmingly sweet, as I usually prefer!
You all know I love a one bowl recipe. These orange ricotta cakes will be a pleasant surprise and your family members will ask you to make them again (and again!). Use a mini bundt pan or a muffin pan or a mini loaf pan – just watch the height because these do rise quite a bit.
- 1.5 cups whole milk ricotta
- 3 eggs
- .75 cups canola oil + extra for greasing baking pan
- 2 T rum (optional)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- zest of 1 orange (I used Cara Cara)
- 2 T fresh squeezed orange juice
- 0.5 teaspoon vanilla bean powder (you can also use vanilla sugar)
- 2.5 teaspoons baking powder
- 1.5 cups AP flour
- Preheat oven to 350F and use the extra canola oil to grease the mini bundt pans well.
- In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, ricotta, and oil. Add in the rum (or another liquor, if using) and whisk well, scraping down the bowl.
- Add in sugar, salt, orange juice and orange zest, and vanilla bean powder, if using. Then whisk in the baking powder and gradually add in the flour until all incorporated.
- Pour the batter into the mini bundt pans, filling about two-thirds of the way. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan - it will also rise quite significantly!
- Wait for the cakes to cool before turning them out of the pan and they will look so pretty!
You can top these lightly with powdered sugar or with a simple orange icing but, honestly, they don’t need it. These cakes are perfectly “moreish” on their own accord.
Yeah! I wish I had a couple of these for petit déjeuner!
Delicieux!
The county we live in in Florida is home to citrus groves and when they start picking oranges, this would be a wonderful recipe.
That sounds wonderful, Karen, glad you’re bookmarking it!