LULLY LEMON AND POPPYSEED RICOTTA CAKE

Its a lemon fest this weekend at MattyB Bakes. You have had a try at the Classic Lemon Tart but what about if you really fancy having a scrummy lemon cake instead. Well with the left over ricotta cheese from the 3C Pasta bake you can whip up this amazingly moist sponge cake dotted with crunchy poppy seeds and covered in a beautifully sticky icing. Its a different take on the traditional lemon sponge cake but one that I think you will agree really sits alongside those classic recipes it in terms of both texture and taste!

This is another recipe that you can mix up when it comes to the citrus used in the recipe. If your not a lemon fan then why not use oranges or lime juice and zest instead to switch up the flavor of this cake to something you prefer. The poppy seeds are not essential either however they do add a particularly nice little element of crunch to the cake just to make it more interesting in the mouth. Try and add them in if you can.

The idea for this cake did come along due to leftover ricotta in my fridge. This is why it's not only included in the cake recipe but in the recipe for the icing too. If you don't have enough ricotta left over for your icing too then do not worry as you can ice with anything you like, a butter cream icing perhaps or just enjoy it naked and let the cake speak for itself. 

Here is the recipe below - why not give it a go and see how good it is for yourself:

Lemon And Poppy Seed Ricotta Cake

For The Cake

160g Golden Caster Sugar
80g Softened Butter
150 Ricotta
3 Eggs
Zest Of 2 Lemons
Juice Of 1 Lemon

175g Plain Flour 

1 Tsp Baking Powder

For The Icing

50g Ricotta

100g Icing Sugar

Juice of 1 Lemon

1. Shove your oven on to 200 degrees (180 fan).
2. Put the sugar and butter in a bowl and beat together until light and fluffy. Add in the ricotta and beat until smooth before adding in the 3 eggs yolks one at a time (keep the whites to one side) and continue to beat until well combined.
3. Throw in the zest and juice and beat again until everything is well mixed before adding in the flour and baking powder. Fold through the flour gently until just combined and no streaks of flour can be seen in the mix.
4. In a second bowl, whisk the reserved egg whites stiff whitepeaks can be formed. Add this gently into the bowl with the cake batter and gently fold through until non of the whites can be seen. Don't be too vigorous or over beat otherwise you will knock all the air out of the whites and that is not good for your cake.
5. Grease a 20cm cake tin and pour in the cake mix. Level the mix with a spatula and then place in the oven for around 35-40 minutes. Insert a skewer, if it comes out clean then your cake is ready.
6. Remove from the oven and leave to cool whilst you preparethe icing. Place all the icing ingredients into a bowl and gently beat together until a spreadable icing has formed. Don't over beat or this will make the icing too runny. If the icing does get too thin, add some more icing sugar too thicken it up. Once the cake has fully cooled, spread the icing evenly over the cake.

You can add further decoration to the top of the cake if you have. I sprinkled over some cocoa powder and put on some candied citrus pieces but you could grate over some more zest or pipe on your icing instead. Get creative!

 Serve with some ice cream or I think it's superb with a good old glug of single cream poured right over the top.

Lemon cake and cream! What could be more lully than that?