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Lemon Ricotta Cake

Last Updated On: March 06, 2024 | Published: March 04, 2024 by Melissa Diamond | 13 Comments
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If you love lemon desserts, don't miss this decadent, easy-to-make scratch Lemon Ricotta Cake!

Lemon Ricotta Cake, sliced, on a pedestal.

This buttery pound cake has a fine, tender crumb, wonderful lemon flavor, and added richness from ricotta cheese. It is extremely moist with an almost creamy texture, much like our "velvet cakes" including white velvet cake, vanilla velvet cake, and more.

Keep this recipe in mind the next time you need a birthday cake recipe, holiday cake, potluck dessert, and more.

Ingredients for Lemon Ricotta Cake

Here's a quick look at the ingredients for today's recipe. Make sure to find the full recipe card at the bottom of this post!

Ingredients for Lemon Ricotta Cake.
  • Butter, softened (Not overly soft, but should dent easily when pressed). We prefer unsalted butter. (If using salted butter, omit the salt from the recipe.)
  • Ricotta Cheese: Adds richness, moisture, and a soft texture.
  • Sugar
  • Five Eggs
  • Cake flour: Contains less protein than AP, resulting in a softer, more tender crumb.
  • Baking powder & Salt 
  • Lemon Extract, Fresh Lemon Juice  and Lemon Zest for a wonderful lemony flavor.

How to Make Lemon Ricotta Cake

You can find the full, printable recipe at the bottom of this post. Here is a quick rundown of our steps!

  • Grease and flour a bundt cake pan or tube pan. Preheat the oven to 325℉.
  • In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside for later.
  • In another bowl or measuring cup, combine these wet ingredients: ricotta cheese, ¼ cup lemon juice, lemon extract, and zest of two lemons. Set aside.
Dry and wet ingredients for lemon ricotta cake.
  • Using an electric mixer (with paddle attachment if using a stand mixer), mix the butter on medium speed until smooth.
  • Next, gradually add the sugar and mix until light and fluffy for 4-5 minutes.
  • Add the eggs to the mixing bowl one at a time, blending after each until the yolk is incorporated.
Photo grid of mixing butter, then butter and sugar, then adding the eggs.
  • With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the ricotta cheese mixture to the butter, sugar, and egg mixture in the mixing bowl. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. We do three additions of dry ingredients, alternating with two additions of wet. Mix just until incorporated.
  • Scoop batter into prepared bundt pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 5-10 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean (or with just a few moist crumbs attached). The cake should spring back when the top is lightly touched. *Baking times may vary.
  • Allow the lemon ricotta cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out.
Baking the Lemon Ricotta Cake- photo grid. From batter to baked cake in pan.

For the Glaze

This easy glaze is one that we use for many of our pound cake recipes. It is a combination of powdered sugar, a pinch of salt, a bit of milk and lemon extract or lemon juice.

Adjust the amount of powdered sugar or milk/lemon juice to reach desired consistency for drizzling over the cake.

glaze for cakes

You can spoon the glaze over the cooled cake, or for more control, you can spoon it into a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away (or a ziplock bag with the corner snipped away) and apply to the cake.

We also topped it with a sprinkling of lemon zest.

Lemon Ricotta Cake, sliced, on a cake pedestal.

Recipe FAQs

Yes! Just as the majority of our cakes from lemon bundt cake to strawberry pound cake, sour cream pound cake and more, this cake freezes beautifully.

To freeze the entire cake, allow the freshly baked cake to cool until slightly warm (or room temperature). Then, tightly wrap in plastic wrap followed by foil.

To thaw, move the cake from the freezer to the refrigerator the day before you need it (still wrapped). Then move it to the kitchen counter the next morning, unwrap, and bring to room temperature.

Ricotta is a soft cheese with a very mild flavor and a thick texture. Much like our recipes that call for cream cheese or sour cream, you will not actually taste the ricotta in the cake recipe, but it adds richness, moisture, and makes for soft, tender crumb.

Yes, we do not recommend leaving out either the lemon extract or lemon zest. Although the recipe calls for ¼ cup fresh lemon juice, this alone is not enough to flavor the cake. The lemon extract gives a lasting boost- the flavor is less likely to bake out.

This is also true for lemon zest, as the oils concentrated in this top layer of the peel are the most fragrant and lend much more flavor than lemon juice. When zesting, it is best to use a fine grater. We use a microplane. Also, when zesting, avoid the white layer beneath the yellow which is known as the pith. The pith can be bitter.

More Lemon Cakes

We've made many more lemon cake recipes over the years! Some of our favorites are lemon cake from scratch, lemon velvet cake, lemon cake from cake mix, and lemon pound cake.

Thanks so much for stopping by! We hope that you give this lemon ricotta cake a try. We'd love for you to check out our full collection of hundreds of cake recipes and free cake decorating tutorials.

You'll find everything from birthday cake design ideas to baby shower cakes, holiday cakes, and more.

Have you made this? We would LOVE for you to leave a ⭐️ rating as well as a comment and photo below! We really appreciate your feedback!

Lemon Ricotta Cake, sliced, on a pedestal.

Lemon Ricotta Pound Cake

BY Melissa and Bebe
This decadent Lemon Ricotta Pound Cake has wonderful lemon flavor and added richness from ricotta cheese.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Course: Dessert
Servings: 15 servings
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Ingredients

  • 2 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened (282g)
  • 10 oz Ricotta Cheese (This is about 1 ¼ cups)
  • 3 cups sugar (600g)
  • 5 large eggs room temperature place in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes to speed up the process.
  • 3 cups (342 g) cake flour (Not self rising. We use Swan's Down, bleached)
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder (2g)
  • ½ teaspoon salt (3g)
  • 1 tablespoon (12g) Lemon Extract
  • ¼ cup Lemon Juice (squeeze from 1-2 lemons depending on size)
  • zest of two lemons

Glaze

  • 2 cups Powdered Sugar
  • 3 to 4 Tablespoons Milk, more if needed for the consistency you like (45-60g)
  • Pinch of salt Approximately ¼ teaspoon
  • Lemon Extract Start with 1 teaspoon and add additional until you reach desired amount of lemon flavor. You can substitute lemon juice for this also

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 325℉. Grease and flour a bundt cake pan or tube pan.
  • In a separate bowl, whisk the cake flour, baking powder, and salt to combine, set aside for later.
  • In another bowl or measuring cup, combine the ricotta cheese, ¼ cup lemon juice, lemon extract, and zest of two lemons. Set aside.
  • Using an electric mixer (paddle attachment if using a stand mixer), add the softened butter to the mixing bowl and mix on medium speed until smooth.
  • Next, gradually add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy for 4-5 minutes.
  • Add the eggs to the mixing bowl one at a time, blending after each until the yolk is incorporated.
  • With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the ricotta cheese mixture to the butter/sugar/egg mixture in the mixing bowl. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. We do three additions of dry ingredients, alternating with two additions of wet. Mix just until incorporated.
  • Scoop batter into prepared bundt pan. Our 10 inch bundt pan has a baking capacity of 12 cups batter (this recipe makes about 9.5 cups). If you are working with a smaller pan, be careful not to overfill. A good rule of thumb is not to fill more than ¾ full.
  • Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 5-10 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. *Baking times may vary.
  • This makes approximately 9.5 cups of batter.
  • Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out.

Glaze

  • Combine confectioners sugar, milk, lemon extract (or fresh lemon juice), and a pinch of salt in a small bowl and stir until smooth.

Decorating the Cake

  • Drizzle the glaze over the cooled pound cake. You can do this with a spoon, or for more control, pipe the glaze through a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away (or a ziplock bag with the corner snipped away.)
  • If the glaze is too thin, add a bit more powdered sugar. If it is too thick, add a bit more juice or a touch of milk until you reach your desired consistency.
  • This cake doesn't need to be refrigerated. Store in an airtight container or under a cake dome.

Notes

You can freeze the lemon ricotta cake (either the whole cake or by the slice) for up to three months. Tightly wrap in plastic wrap followed by foil. To thaw the entire cake, move to the refrigerator the day before (still wrapped). Then move to the kitchen counter the next day, unwrap, and bring to room temperature.

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13 Comments

    1. Hi Rose, we prefer cake four, but all purpose flour should still give you a very good cake-- the texture may be slightly different, but still good!

      Reply

  5. 5 stars
    Your Lemon Ricotta Pound Cake is a keeper, now, in my family!
    It's sooo moist and the density of the ricotta makes eating it very satisfying...
    I didn't use the glaze as we're trying to watch sugar and carbohydrate intake, but this pound cake stands on its own! You really don't need the glaze.
    You two are amazing with tasty ideas for cake lovers!

    Reply

    1. Hi Nonnie! Thank you so much for your feedback, we're so glad that you all enjoyed the cake! xo

      Reply

  7. 5 stars
    I made this recipe for Easter. It is simply amazing! This is my new go to lemon cake recipe.

    Reply