It’s been 12 whole months since I dusted off the Substack and last wrote about our trip to Paris. Maybe it’s the wistful nostalgia of our trip creeping in, maybe it’s the sudden 7:30pm darkness, maybe it’s the incessant Google Photo alerts reminding me how I used to take pictures of food all the time. Whatever the catalyst, I was itching to share a recipe and so without much more thought than that— here I am. This is a cake that I have found over the last year of non-blogging but LOTS of cooking, to be one of those recipes that turn out to be endlessly customizable and incredibly reliable. It’s based on Alison Roman’s Raspberry Ricotta cake, and suffice to say, I love it.
I’ve made a version of this cake dozens of times in the original recipe, swapped raspberries for blackberries, and swapped blackberries for strawberries. I’ve ditched the berries entirely and added a layer of lemon curd, made a craggy streusel filling/topping, and most recently, turned to apples. This version has a slightly spiced cake with cinnamon and cardamom, a layer of apple butter nestled in the middle, and is topped with more swirls of apple butter, and a layer of sugar that is borderline alarming until you see the craggy, crispy top at the end of the bake.
I made some cardamom apple butter after a U-pick trip to the orchard where I overestimated just how much I was going to use said apples, but you certainly do not need homemade apple butter here at all. Just a jar of off-the-shelf apple butter will do. This recipe uses just two bowls of pantry-ready ingredients, and has a crackly sugary topping that can’t be beat. This cake can do double duty as a dessert (wouldn’t hate a dollop of whipped cream on it) or mug-side in the morning as breakfast.
Apple Butter Ricotta Cake
Makes one 8inch cake
Ingredients
Cooking Spray
1.5 C all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp cardamom
1 tsp cinnamon
1.5 C ricotta cheese
3/4 C granulated sugar, plus 3 Tbsp for topping
1/4 C dark brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1/2 C apple butter, plus 1/4 C for topping
turbinado sugar (optional, but encouraged— for sprinkling on top)
Method
Preheat oven to 350F. Spray an 8 inch cake pan (or 8-inch springform) with cooking spray and line with parchment. Set aside.
In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt, cardamom, and sugar. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk ricotta, 3/4 C granulated sugar, 1/4 C dark brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Whisk or gently fold into the flour mixture until blended. Fold in melted butter until evenly distributed.
Take about half of the batter (you can eyeball it!) and using an offset spatula or a spoon, spread evenly on the bottom of the cake pan. Dollop the 1/2 C apple butter across the top of the cake batter, again using an offset spatula or spoon to spread evenly. Finish by dolloping the rest of the cake batter on top of the apple butter, spreading evenly across the cake pan. Finally, (more dollops!) drop 1/2 tsps of apple butter across the cake (do this to your discretion, I think I had maybe 8 drops spread out across the top), and using a knife, or a toothpick, gently swirl the dots of apple butter around making a marbled pattern.
To finish, sprinkle the top of the cake with 1/4 C of granulated sugar, and a heaping teaspoon or generous pinch of turbinado sugar for extra crunch.
Bake on the middle rack for 45-55 minutes, testing at 45 minutes for doneness with a toothpick or wooden skewer until it comes out clean. Let cool for 15 minutes before removing from the pan.
Enjoy!
Yum! I actually have turbinado sugar! Doesn’t look too difficult. Tnx for sharing! Happy Fall! 🍁🍂