Ricotta Olive Oil Pound Cake

Ciao a tutti! I am so excited to share one of my favorite recipes with you…my Ricotta Olive Oil Pound Cake!! I don’t like to brag, but this pound cake is absolutely incredible! It’s light, moist and delicious. Some of you might be thinking “olive oil?!?!” but the olive oil just adds a lovely subtle fruitiness (if you use good olive oil) and along with the ricotta gives the cake a wonderful texture.  I made mine in little individual cake pans, but you can use a standard pound cake pan. I also made a simple glaze to put on the top and served the cake with some roasted hazelnuts on the side, just because I look for any excuse to munch on a few hazelnuts. Enjoy!

Ricotta Olive Oil Pound Cake

¼ cup plus 1 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 ½ cups flour

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ tsp. salt

1 ½ cups ricotta, at room temperature

1 ¼ cup sugar

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. almond extract

3 eggs

Preheat the oven the 350 degrees. Butter your cake pan.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Whip together the butter, ricotta, sugar, olive oil, vanilla and almond extract in a separate bowl with an electric mixer. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and beat until nice and airy. Add the eggs into the mix. Pour the batter into your pan and bake for 45-55 minutes or until you put a toothpick into the cake and it comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool for around 15 minutes in the pan and then transfer to a wire rack to completely cool. While you are letting the cake cool, you can prepare your glaze…

Simple Glaze

3 ¾ cup confectioners’ sugar

4 tbsp. milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

In a large bowl, combine the sugar with milk and vanilla. You can continue to add a little milk until it is the consistency that you like it! Pour over the pound cake once it is COMPLETELY cool. Buon Appetito!!