Lemon Ricotta Cake With Blueberries

What I like about this cake is that it sounds sort of decadent (to me, anyway), but it was solely inspired by the extremely tight budget we're on simply by using what we had in the house.   Had some leftover ricotta from making lasagna, blueberries in the freezer that I'd picked last summer, and we almost always have lemons in the house.  Just had a sweet craving and decided to do something about it!

While baking, we had some Pandora station on that played this song about forty times, and though I tried to think of something cakey or lemony to go with the recipe, I just kept coming up with this song, so I might as well just get it out of my freaking head!!  Dramarama's "Anything Anything".  -jen

 LEMON RICOTTA CAKE WITH BLUEBERRIES

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup Ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup milk
• zest of 1 large lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• juice of 1 large lemon
• 1 cup blueberries**

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Generously coat a bunt pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth.  Add the egg, 1 at a time.  Then add the Ricotta, milk, lemon zest, and vanilla until combined.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt.  Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture until completely blended.  Then add the lemon juice.  Stir in the blueberries by hand.

Spoon batter into prepared pan and bake for 60 minutes, or until tester comes out clean.  Remove cake and allow to cool completely.

**Note: I found my blueberries all sunk to the bottom of the pan (top of the cake) and think next time I would spoon 2/3 of the batter into the pan, sprinkle the blueberries on top, and spoon the remainder of the batter over it.  I imagine you'd just get a layer of blueberry still, but they'd sink to the middle rather than all the way down.  Just an idea!


LEMON ICING

• 2 cups confectioner's sugar
• zest and juice of 1 large lemon
• 2-3 tablespoons Limoncello (optional)

Whisk to combine sugar and lemon juice.  Use Limoncello liqueur or water in tablespoon increments to thin icing just until it's a consistency that can be drizzled over the cake.  You don't want it too thin, or the cake will just absorb it!

Bacon Maple Pineapple Upside Down Cake

I decided to jump onto the Bacon Bandwagon.  Since there's no donut shop in my nearby area that carries a bacon maple donut, I had to improvise.  Pork and pineapple go together.  Pineapple and maple go together.  Maple and pork go together.  It's rich, but it's sweet and salty and delicious!  Loved it!  And how many cakes do you know of that include a pound of bacon?!  It's awesome.

It makes me think fondly of the Prodigal Son that used to be in Chicago.  Irish pub in the front, angry, dirty punk music in the back, and bottomless free baskets of deep fried bacon on Wednesday nights.  I think I actually saw more blood spilled in that venue than any other venue.  That's just what happens when you get crazy and mix bacon and punk rock!  Chaos and anarchy!

The last show I saw there was my friend Germ's band, The Rotten Fruits, shown in the video here!  You can find Germ with his new band, Modern Day Rippers!  If you're in the Chicago area, check 'em out!  It's always a good show! 

BACON MAPLE PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

• 1 pound bacon
• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened and divided
• 2 tablespoons shortening
• 2 cups + 1/3 cup 100% pure maple syrup (Grade B if possible)
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 egg
• 1 & 1/4 cups whole milk
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons bacon fat (rendered from bacon)
• 1 can pineapple slices
• Maraschino cherries
• non-stick cooking spray

Chop bacon into bits and cook until crisped over medium-high heat.  Use a slotted spoon to remove bacon from pan and drain on papertowels.  Save 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat and set aside.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Spray 9x13 cake pan with non-stick spray and then coat with flour.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, allspice, baking powder, and salt.  Stir until mixed.  In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 stick of butter and shortening and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy.  Add 2 cups of maple syrup and beat until smooth, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl.  Add egg yolks and egg, one at a time, blending thoroughly after each addition.  Alternately add flour mixture and milk, 1/3 of each at a time.  Set aside

Melt 1 stick of butter and 2 tablespoons bacon fat over low heat.  Once melted, remove from heat and stir in 1/3 cup maple syrup.  In floured pan, sprinkle 1 cup brown sugar evenly over bottom of pan.  Pour butter and maple mixture over brown sugar.  Place pineapple rings on top and cherries in the middle of the rings.  Sprinkle bacon in even layer over everything.  Then carefully pour in cake batter.  Bake at 325F until a knife or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (40-45 minutes).


Cool cake over cooling rack for 10 minutes.  Then invert onto serving platter and let cool another 20 minutes.

 

(Served here with a Fig Balsamic reduction)