This cake was made for Mother’s Day for my lovely mum. My mother’s has this major love for lemon, and as per usual, every year I tend to make her a cake with lemon in. I gave her a choice of many cake to chose from and she choose this one, maybe I might have swayed her a little lol, I really liked this sound of this cake especially with the limoncello and almonds in.
This cake is great for people who suffer from gluten as it’s gluten free yippee!!!!, I haven’t made many gluten free cakes but the pavlova I made recently are gluten free. I find gluten free cakes are really tricky to get right as they have a tendency not to work out well but this one worked well and didn’t need a like 6 eggs as many do!
My mum loved the cake and said it was full of lemon flavour, soft with crispy edge and sticky on the top. I just liked the fact she loved the cake which made me happy. Happy Mother’s Day Mum’s and to all the mother’s out there.
- 113g - soft unsalted butter
- 11/3 cups - castor sugar
- 250g - full-fat ricotta
- 1 tsp - vanilla
- Zest - 1 lemon
- 3 - eggs, room temperature, separated
- 3 tbsp - limoncello*
- 21/2 cups - ground almond (you need 2 bags of 180g, but you won't use it all)
- 1 tsp - baking powder
- Sliced almonds
- Powdered sugar, for dusting
- 1/2 - lemon
- 2 tbsp - sugar
- 1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Grease and line a 9-inch springform pan
- 2. In a stand mixer using a clean bowl beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff peaks and place them in a separate bowl.
- 3. In the same bowl add the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Mix in the ricotta, vanilla and lemon zest.
- 4. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add the egg yolks, one at a time, continuing to beat until very light and creamy. Add in the limoncello, almond flour, baking powder and beat until combined.
- 5. Gently fold the egg whites into the cake mixture. (Don't worry if white streaks remain - they will disappear once in the oven.)
- 6. Pour the mixture into the prepared springform pan and smooth the top with a spatula or spoon. Bake for 30 minutes then sprinkle the flaked almonds then bake for another 15-20 or until firm yet slightly springy to the touch.
- 7. When the cake is out the oven prepare the lemon syrup. In a small saucepan add the sugar and lemon and heat on high until it's bubbly. Pierce the cake with a toothpick and pour the lemon syrup all over the cake. Allow to cool completely otherwise it will break apart and dust with the powdered sugar.
- * If you don't have any limoncello it could be replaced with lemon juice.
