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You’ll love this delicious raspberry ricotta cake, it’s moist, bursting with fresh juicy raspberries and vanilla hints. Plus, it’s easy to make in one bowl, so simple, straightforward, and turns perfectly every single time.
It’s one of our favorite cakes, perfect for all occasions, and easy to transport to potlucks, parties, and any picnics. Everyone loves it!
I love adding ricotta into the batter, it makes a moist, rich cake with a delicious melt-in-your-mouth texture. The fresh raspberries add extra deliciousness, they look so pretty, and no worries, they don’t sink at the bottom!
If you’ve already tried my strawberry ricotta cake or strawberry bread, then you definitely have to give a go to this scrumptious raspberry ricotta cake too. It’s so easy to whip up and makes a real summer treat.
List of the ingredients
- Fresh or frozen raspberries
- Whole-milk Ricotta
- All-purpose flour
- Eggs
- Sugar
- Vegetable oil
- Vanilla extract or essence
- Lemon zest (optional)
- Baking powder
- Salt
How to make raspberry ricotta cake
(Note: this is simply a quick explanation, the full recipe is at the bottom of the page)
- Whisk well eggs and sugar in one bowl.
- Stir in the vegetable oil.
- Add ricotta, vanilla, lemon zest and whisk well until smooth.
- Add flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Stir until just combined (do not over mix).
- Add the raspberries, fold gently.
- Pour into the baking pan and bake.
Recipe notes
Raspberry ricotta cake ingredients
- Berries: you can use fresh or frozen raspberries. They don’t sink at the bottom, hence no need to dust them in flour. Also, you can swap blueberries, strawberries or dark chocolate chips (approx ½ cup) for raspberries. It’s so versatile!
- Ricotta: whole-milk ricotta is best. I used 1 cup/250 grams of ricotta (they don’t sell 15oz container here in the UK). But if you buy a large container of ricotta, have a look at this collection of ricotta recipes or check below how to use up your leftovers!
- Vanilla extract & Lemon zest: I love using both, but feel free to use only lemon or only vanilla if it’s all you have at hand.
- Sugar: the recipe calls for only 1/2 cup, as most of my cake recipes. It’s just a fraction of the amount of sugar used in regular cakes, but you can really save yourself that extra cup of sugar with these lovely, delicious ingredients.
How to use leftover ricotta?
Nothing goes to waste and you won’t have leftover ricotta sitting in the fridge. These terrific recipes below are perfect to use up the versatile, creamy ricotta:
Baking tips to make this raspberry ricotta cake
- Use room temperature ingredients.
- Do not over mix the batter, that creates a dense, rubbery cake.
- Measure the ingredients correctly: a kitchen scale is always the best option, but if you use cups, make sure you don’t scoop the flour out of the bag with your measuring cup. Use a spoon to transfer the flour into the measuring cup instead, than use the back of a knife to level off the top.
- Oven: make sure you preheat the oven and, let me state the obvious, do not open the oven door for the first 25 minutes (at least).
More delicious easy cakes?
If you love super easy cakes, not overly sweet and packed with fruit, vegetables or chocolate, you’ve come to right place:
- Chocolate and beetroot cake
- Yogurt cake
- Zucchini bread
- Blender carrot cake
- One-bowl chocolate cake (vegan)
Psss, If you make this raspberry ricotta cake, let me know! Leave a comment, rate it or tag a photo #theclevermeal on Instagram.
I would love to hear from you!
Raspberry Ricotta Cake
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- ½ cup (100 grams) sugar (I used unrefined cane sugar)
- ½ scant cup (about 80 grams) vegetable oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 lemon zest (optional)
- 1 cup + 1 Tbsp (250 grams) ricotta, possibly at room temperature
- 1 ½ cup (190 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- pinch of fine salt
- 1 ½ cup (180-200 grams) raspberries (fresh or frozen)
- powdered sugar to dust (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C and place the rack in the middle position.
- Grease a 9x5x2.5 inch loaf pan with butter, cooking spray, or simply line the pan with parchment paper (in this case there's no need to grease the pan).
- Place flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt in a bowl and whisk well to distribuite the baking powder evenly.
- In second bowl, whisk eggs and sugar until well combined.
- Stir in the vegetable oil, then add ricotta, vanilla extract, lemon zest and mix well until smooth.
- Add the flour mix and stir until combined, but do not overmix (a few lumps are ok).
- Gently fold the raspberries by passing a spatula down through the mixture, across the bottom, and up over the top.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 30 minutes at 350°F/180°C, the reduce the temperature to 340°F/170°C for a further 15-20 minutes. Each oven is different, check the doneness after 45 minutes, the cake is ready when a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- When the cake is done, remove it from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Serve dusted with some powdered sugar if you wish.
Tina
Just made this today and it turned out amazing! made it exactly as written without the optional powdered sugar on top(no need, as it was delicious as is) Definitely a keeper 😋
Katia
That’s great! I’m very glad it turned out amazing, thanks so much for sharing, Tina. x
S. NAPOLITANO
This looks so good. I want to make it but I have a question. Does this have the grainy texture that a Ricotta Cheesecake has?
Katia
This cake doesn’t have grainy texture, it contains flour in the batter, the texture is soft and spongy, not grainy. : )
Kathy woodward
Do you use white or brown sugar?
Katia
I use unrefined sugar which is lightly brown, but you can use regular white sugar if you wish. x
gini carr
Delicious cake..very easy and it rose beautifully and wasn’t dense at all…it has substance because it is not a sponge type cake! It cooked in 50 minutes and was moist and lovely The fresh raspberries and blueberries on the top didn’t sink in so I would put all fruit in the cake next time! I am intrigued by yr blender carrot cake and will try that next time !!
Katia
I’m so glad it turned out delicious! : )
Thanks so much for taking the time to share your lovely feedback, Gini (pls, let me know if you make the carrot cake!)
Have a great week. x
stacey Pesaturo
I used fresh raspberries and coconut oil instead of vegetable oil. I also didn’t skimp on the lemon zest. It was great and not dry at all.
Katia
That’s absolutely brilliant! Thanks so much for taking the time to share your feedback, Stacey.
I’m so glad it turned out great : )
Margaret Johnston
I used frozen rasberries but the cake didnt rise & is quite dense, — I will make again using some other fruit thats not frozen because I like the simplicity of your recipe..
Thank you,
Margaret
Katia
Hi Margaret, thanks so much for your comment : )
I’m afraid the dense texture isn’t related to the frozen fruit. Maybe the cake didn’t rise nicely because the batter was too liquid, or the baking powder didn’t work properly.
Hope you’ll get a better result next time. x
Brenda N DiMillo
Appears that there is typo under notes:(the parmesan cheese and the final drizzle of olive oil are not included).
Since there is no parmesan and olive oil in recipe, I suggest that you delete it.
Katia
Gosh, that was my oversight! It’s deleted now. Thank you x
Johanne Dupont
When I bake I always make 2 loaves of what ever and take 1 over to my neighbors. They raved over this loaf saying it was their favorite of all my baking so far! It was lovely light and tasty and as the one review said not overly sweet. Making again this morning, thank you for a delicious recipe.🌻
Katia
Thank you so much for taking the time to share such a wonderful feedback, Johanne! : )
I’m very happy to hear that you and your neighbors love this recipe… that’s fantastic.
Have a great weekend (nearly there!) x
Deb C
I don’t have a loaf pan. Can this cake be made in a rectangular pan? 8 by 8 or 9 by 9?
Katia
Hi Deb, no problem… 9×9 pan works too!
Cheers x
Holly
This raspberry lemon ricotta loaf cake is just what I was looking for! The sweet tang of the in-season raspberries with the the lemon zest is a perfect match for the moist ricotta! I will use this recipe many more times. I want to try with peaches too! Thank you for sharing this delicious treat!
Katia
I’m so pleased to hear that, Holly! Thanks so much for sharing your feedback.
Have a great week. x
Stella Ali
Hello! I really want to make this and I am wondering if I can use frozen pitted cherries? Also, can I bake in a bundt pan or will it not be enough batter?
Katia
HI Stella! Frozen cherries are totally fine, and the bundt pan is ok too if the diameter is not more than 8-9 inches. I use the bundt pan you can see in this recipe, and it’s fine for this amount of batter: https://theclevermeal.com/easy-chocolate-cake-recipe/
Note: check the doneness 8-10 minutes earlier if you bake it in a bundt pan.
Let me know.
Hope Hills
I made this for a luncheon today for my mother and family friends. Absolutely wonderful! Everyone loved it, including my husband , a very particular eater, who proceeded to eat two slices…as did everyone. We do not care for high sugar content and this fit the bill. Moist and full of flavor. Thank you for this recipe. Mine was done at exactly 47 minutes following the directions. A copy was requested and sent home. Excellent!!
Katia
I’m so glad you all loved it! Thanks so much for taking the time to share your lovely feedback. Cheers!