Cake with Ricotta, easy recipe!
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy for more details.
This super simple cake with ricotta is easy to make in one bowl, and it’s moist, with a melt-in-your-mouth texture and a chocolatey taste in every bite!
It’s a versatile cake, easy to transport, and it keeps moist and yummy for days.
Ricotta is one of my favorite ingredients for both savory and sweet recipes. This fresh soft Italian cheese brings plenty of moisture and a delicate flavor without weighting down.
It’s great for refreshing fillings like in this wonderful lemon ricotta cake, or moist textures like in these juicy strawberry cake, raspberry cake or strawberry bread.
In this easy recipe, ricotta makes a scrumptious dense crumb perfect for dark chocolate chips and fresh orange zest. It’s a very simple cake, but its texture and flavor are totally delicious!
So if you haven’t made a cake with ricotta before, then you definitely have to try this!
It’s a breeze to make in 1 bowl, it turns perfect every time, and it’s so YUMMY that you’ll be making it again and again!
List of the ingredients
- Whole-milk ricotta
- All-purpose or cake flour
- Eggs
- Sugar
- Baking powder
- Vegetable oil
- Dark chocolate chips
- Orange zest
- Salt
- Vanilla extract or essence (optional)
How to make cake with ricotta
(Note: this is a quick description with step-by-step photos, the full recipe is at the bottom of the page)
- Whisk eggs and sugar in one bowl.
- Stir in vegetable oil, ricotta, zest, vanilla.
- Stir well until smooth.
- Add flour, baking powder, salt and stir gently until just combined. A few lumps in the batter are ok, you don’t want to over mix.
- Add the chocolate chips and fold them gently into the batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared tin.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes.
- Serve it at room temperature, dusted with powdered sugar. It tastes delicious with some sweet cream cheese on the side.
Recipe notes
Cake with ricotta ingredients
Ricotta: I used 1 cup/250 grams of whole-milk ricotta. But if you buy a 15oz container of ricotta wondering how to use up your leftovers, this collection of ricotta recipes might be helpful!
Chocolate chips: dark chocolate chips are the best, they make a delicious combination with ricotta and orange zest. If you want to amp up the chocolate flavor, I recommend adding more chocolate chips (2/3 cup).
Flour: all-purpose flour, cake flour and self-raising flour work fine (skip the baking powder if you use self-raising flour).
Eggs: 2 large eggs or 3 smaller ones.
Sugar: the recipe calls for 1/2 cup, that’s just a fraction of the amount of sugar used in regular cakes. It’s not too sweet, it’s just right, trust me! : )
Vanilla extract, orange zest, and salt: They’re used for flavor.
Baking tips
- How to measure the ingredients: a kitchen scale is the best option when it comes to baking. However, if you use cups use a spoon to transfer the flour into the measuring cup instead and use the back of a knife to level off the top. But don’t scoop the flour out of the bag with your measuring cup, you’ll end up with much more flour.
- Use the ingredients at room temperature.
- Do not over mix the batter, that creates a rubbery texture.
- Tap your cake tin lightly on a flat, hard surface, this removes air bubbles.
- Preheat the oven and do not open the oven door for the first 25 minutes.
Any ricotta leftovers to use up?
If you buy a large container of ricotta, the recipes below are brilliant to use up ricotta leftovers, and they’re also easy to whip up!
More easy cake recipes?
These 1-bowl cake recipes make the perfect treats for the whole family. Simple, not overly sweet and so delicious:
If you make this cake with ricotta, or if you have any questions, let me know! Leave a comment, send me a message, or rate it. I would love to hear from you!
And for more recipe updates, subscribe my newsletter and follow me on Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook.
Cake with Ricotta (easy recipe!)
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs (or 3 small ones)
- ½ cup (100 grams) sugar
- 1 cup (250 grams) whole-milk ricotta, at room temperature
- ⅓ cup + 1 Tbsp (85-90 grams) vegetable oil (I used cold-pressed canola oil)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract (or essence)
- 1 orange zest
- 1 ½ cup (190 grams) all-purpose flour or cake flour (spooned and levelled)
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon fine salt
- 1/2 cup (90-100 grams) dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F /180°C, place the shelf in the middle position, and grease and line a 20 cm / 8" cake pan with parchment paper (a loose bottom cake pan is best).
- In a large bowl, stir sugar and eggs until well combined.
- Add ricotta, vegetable oil, orange zest, vanilla extract and mix well with a whisk or a spatula until smooth.
- Mix flour, a pinch of salt and the baking powder in a second bowl, than add these dry ingredients onto the liquid ingredients, stir until just combined and the flour is incorporated, but do not over mix (a few lumps are fine).
- Gently fold the chocolate chips by passing a spatula down through the mixture, across the bottom, and up over the top.
- Pour the batter evenly into prepared cake pan, tap it on a working surface a couple of times and make sure the top is levelled.
- Place the pan in the preheated oven and bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into centre comes out clean.
- Stand 15 minutes in the cake pan before removing from the pan. You might need to turn out onto cooling rack if you don't use a loose bottom cake pan
- Serve a room temperature, dusted with powdered sugar if you wish. Enjoy!
I will be making this today. I love that your recipe ingredients are weighed. I agree it is much more accurate. Can’t wait to taste it.
Thanks, Carol! Happy baking `: )
Can you use butter instead of the oil? If not, can you use coconut oil instead of canola? Thank you.
Hi Julie, I’ve never tried coconut oil in this recipe but I think it should work just fine. x
Hi! I just made this and it’s in the oven:) my question or concern is the batter consistency was more like a cookie batter than a cake batter…is this okay? Followed the recipe to a tee!
Hi Lisa, the batter is not runny, but it’s more like muffin batter. I think yours is fine, please let me know how it turns out. : )
Hi-
I’ve just made your ricotta cake. Hope it turns out ok…in the ingredients list, you call for ORANGE zest. In the instructions, it says to add the LEMON zest. I had already zested an orange. Didn’t have a lemon on hand….Will rate the recipe after tasting!!
Hi Karn! Thank you for your comment, noooo lemon zest in the instructions was an oversight (I’ve just amended!), while orange zest is correct!
Hope it turns out delicious, let me know x