Ricotta Pound Cake

I had an opened box of ricotta cheese in the refrigerator. As you all know, once opened, these dairy products should be used within a week. I started searching for a ricotta cake recipe. I had made long time back a ricotta cake which I had made it eggless. Even though it tasted good, it was very crumbly. Being a person who is interested in cake decorating, I do not like crumbly cakes at all. Then I found this pound cake recipe and a pound cake is suppose to be dense and I liked that fact and tried it. Do not get discouraged to try this cake because of how it looks. It obviously tastes great since my kids ate two slices each within 10 minutes of slicing it. And they just had their lunch. Go figure.

Adapted from Giada's recipe.

Ingredients:
Cake flour - 1 1/2 cup
Baking Powder - 2 1/2 tsp
Salt - 3/4 tsp
Sugar - 1 1/2 cup
Butter - 1/2 cup or 1 stick softened + little more for greasing the pan
Ricotta - 1 1/2 cup (I used part skim)
Sour Cream - 1/2 cup
Eggs - 3 large or extra large
Vanilla - 2 tsp

Method:
Grease a 9 X 5 pan with butter and flour it. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 F. (I was using a dark non stick pan, so I used 325 F) In a bowl, cream together butter, ricotta, sour cream and sugar well till the mixture is creamy. Add eggs one at a time and beat well. Add Vanilla. In another bowl stir cake flour, salt and baking powder. Slowly add the dry mix to the wet in intervals and beat till just combined. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 45 - 50 minutes. I had to bake mine for 55 minutes since I was baking it at 325 F. Use the toothpick test to check the doneness of the cake. Cool in the pan for about 10 minutes and then turn on to the wire rack to cool completely. This is a very delicate, dense, moist cake. Dust with powdered sugar if desired and serve. You could serve with fruits or some ice cream.

Notes:
The flavor of the cake can be changed by using different zests, extracts. The batter is so nice to suspend the chocolate chips that I am thinking of folding some chocolate chips or some nuts next time.

I had only 1 stick of butter in the refrigerator. To make up the difference, I used sourcream. I used 1/4 cup more sour cream to make the batter a little creamier instead of thick. Follow the original recipe if you do not want to use sour cream. Use 3/4 cup of butter instead and omit sour cream.

Happy Baking!!