One Bowl Lemon Ricotta Cake

The easiest olive oil cake you should make stat

First, if you live in Houston and still don’t have power, I am so sorry. This last storm was painful and I’m nervous about hurricane season! My house in Houston doesn’t have power either and I’ve lost tons of ingredients. I understand that if you’re without power, you won’t be baking anytime soon. But file this away to celebrate once you have air conditioning and electricity!

Last weekend, we celebrated my mom’s birthday on my sister’s deck in Idaho. The menu was mostly “prep ahead” which kept it stress-free. Grilled Honey Soy Flank Steak; Cheese Bread (sorry, not sorry); asparagus blanched ahead of time in salted boiling water and then dunked in an ice bath, we warmed it up while the cheese bread was cooking and then drizzled it with reduced balsamic and creamy sheep’s milk feta; a mixed green salad with fresh herbs and super simple salad dressing and this one-bowl cake for dessert.

We often make this cake in Smart in the Kitchen cooking classes because it’s a one-bowl dessert that’s simple to put together and cooks in about 50 minutes. While it contains ricotta, there are notes in the recipe for a non-dairy variation. I’ve also made this cake with orange zest and orange juice instead of lemon juice or Grand Marnier and orange zest or tangerine zest and tangerine juice — yum!

I can’t remember when I first started tweaking and developing this recipe, and I think it was adapted from this Lidia Bastianich recipe. She uses milk instead of ricotta and a few other differences. I’ve made so many tweaks in classes over the past two years that it’s a completely different recipe. I have another lemon olive cake recipe on my blog that is much more time-consuming and fussy. This one is simple, not too sweet, and doesn’t make a mess of dishes. Sign me up

Here’s the step-by-step process of how to make it.