Not Brad's favorite dessert

Over a year after my first post, which was about Brad's birthday dinner, I am finally getting around to posting the recipe for the cake I made that day. Having just written about Mom's absolute favorite dessert, and previously covered Dylan's favorite dessert, I wanted a definitive idea about Brad's favorite dessert, but he wouldn't commit to anything stronger than that this is "one of my favorite cakes," even though he requested it for his birthday dinner two years in a row. And he likes cookies better anyway. Oh well, it's still a darn good cake. (For the record, Cassie is big on Strawberry Shortcakes, or Strawberry Cream Cake for one big shortcake.)

Brad’s Lemon Ricotta Birthday Cake 1.1

Adapted from Jennifer Wagner via Food52 (with video)

Time: (~1 hour total, but only 23 minutes to make the batter and get the cake into the oven)

For a gluten-free cake, I've used a blend of 115 grams brown rice flour, 40 grams Thai sweet/glutinous white rice flour, and 20 grams tapioca flour. Calabro is probably the best supermarket ricotta. You can find it at Whole Foods. Trader Joe's Traditional Fresh Ricotta is good, too; otherwise, do the best you can.

1 stick (113 grams) unsalted butter, cut into 8 chunks and softened

200 grams (1 cup) granulated sugar

3 large eggs

212 grams (1 cup) whole-milk ricotta (see note)

zest of 1 lemon  

1 medium apple, tending toward crisp (like Pink Lady, Honeycrisp, or Fuji)

1 tablespoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon (slightly rounded) xanthan gum (for a gluten-free cake only)

175 grams (~1¼ cups) all-purpose flour; or gluten-free flour blend (see note)

confectioners' sugar, for serving (optional)

 

    1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease the sides of a 9-inch cake pan and line the bottom with a round of parchment paper; or grease and flour the pan.

    2. In a large bowl, or the bowl of a standing mixer, cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl down as needed. Beat in the ricotta and lemon zest. The batter may look curdled at this point.

    3. Peel the apple, then grate it on the large holes of a box grater. You should have about 1 cup (~4 ounces; 113 grams) of grated apple. Stir the apple into the batter.

    4. Sprinkle the baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum, if using, over the batter. Mix well.

    5. Weigh the flour into the bowl. Stir in on the lowest speed of the mixer or with a spatula. Do not overmix. (You can mix more aggressively if you’re making a gluten-free cake.)

    6. Scrape the thick batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake until the cake is golden brown, the sides start to pull away from the pan, and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 25–30 minutes. If the cake is browning too quickly before the center is set, turn the oven down 25 degrees.

    7. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 5 minutes. Put another wire rack on top of the pan, and carefully invert the cake. Remove the parchment paper, then reinvert the cake onto the first wire rack so it is right-side up. Cool completely. Serve dusted with confectioners' sugar, if you like. Serves 8.