Apple Ricotta Cake is a delicious way to celebrate apple season. Although lemon is the traditional flavour for a ricotta cake, the apples worked beautifully. This cake is moist and tender, and not too sweet, with loads of apple flavour.
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What is Ricotta Cake?
A ricotta cake is an Italian dessert, usually made with semolina or almond flour. My best description is that it's somewhere between a cheesecake and a pound cake. Its texture is dense, yet tender, and has a nice crumb, so it slices beautifully into perfect wedges.
Using Almond Meal
You can certainly make this cake with all-purpose or semolina flour, but this recipe is using almond meal, which is simply finely ground almonds. I like the flavour that the almond meals gives the cake, and it means that this apple ricotta cake is gluten-free.
What does Ricotta Cake Taste Like?
This apple ricotta cake tastes, obviously, like apples and cinnamon. Along with the almond flavour from the flour, there is a creamy, cheesy flavour from the ricotta. All in all, it's a beautiful combo.
What is Ricotta?
Ricotta is a mild, creamy white cheese with a texture like a very fine curd cottage cheese. It is a common ingredient in savory Italian recipes, like this Perfect Meat Lasagna, but also in dessert recipes, like cannoli. In desserts, ricotta goes well with chocolate, fruit, and honey.
And did you know, it's really easy to make your own homemade ricotta? Check it out here: How to Make Homemade Ricotta.
Can You Substitute Cottage Cheese for For The Ricotta in This Cake?
For this cake, I prefer not to substitute cottage cheese for the ricotta. Although it tastes similar, ricotta is richer and creamier than cottage cheese. However, you can substitute cottage cheese in this recipe, if you want to. But because it has a much larger curd than ricotta, put the cottage cheese into the blender for a few seconds before using it.
How To Enjoy Apple Ricotta Cake
This simple cake is perfect just as is with coffee or tea, and because it isn't overly sweet, you can even have it for breakfast. The almonds and cheese pack a nice protein hit to start the day.
As a dessert, you can drizzle the cake with salted caramel, honey, or top it with macerated fruit.
And, if you love apple desserts, you may also want to try Apple Walnut Spice Cake or Skillet Caramel Apple Crisp.
How to Store Your Cake
Store your cake well wrapped at room temperature for up to two days. It will last longer in the fridge, but the texture will become denser. You can also freeze the cake for up to three months if properly wrapped. It's nice to freeze some in individual portions for coffee breaks.
Want to do More Gluten-Free Baking?
Try some of these mouthwatering goodies:
- Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Recipe
- Almond Flour Blueberry Muffins
- Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
- Gluten Free Blueberry Scones (Lemon Glazed)
- Pumpkin Pecan Muffins (Gluten-Free)
- Cherry Almond Clafoutis (Gluten Free)
Recipe
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Apple Ricotta Cake
Ingredients
- 4 eggs large
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 cups ricotta cheese whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 cups almond meal or almond flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 4 apples
- 4 tablespoon brown sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° and prepare a 9" spring form pan by spraying with cooking spray
- Slice the apples into thin slices
- Combine eggs, sugar, ricotta and vanilla in a large mixing bowl
- Stir in oil, salt, and cinnamon
- Gradually stir in almond meal and baking powder, mixing until combined
- Fold in slices of three of the apples
- Spread the batter evenly in the prepared baking pan
- Arrange slices of the fourth apple on top of the cake, then sprinkle with brown sugar
- Bake in center of oven 60 minutes, or until apple slices are browned, and a butter knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
Karen B
This cake is good but the oil is too much for my taste. I even questioned the 3/4 cup of olive oil when making it but went with it. If I made it again I'd scale that back to 1/3 or 1/2 cup. It's good but too oily for me.
Colleen
Hi Karen, thanks for your feedback. I would love to hear how it goes if you do try the recipe with less oil.
Dorothy Hanley
This cake was phenomenal ! Moist, dense and I doubled up on the orange zest (didn’t have a lemon). I didn’t have a springform pan so I used a deep pie pan but it worked beautifully. Definitely will be making this again !!
Colleen
Hi Dorothy! We love this cake and I'm so happy that you do, too. Your orange zest tweak sounds delicious and it's great to know that the pie pan worked, too. Thank you for sharing!
Mary Kennedy
This cake was amazing. I added 1/2 nutmeg 1/8 ginger. On the top I scattered silvered almonds with the brown sugar. This cake is delicious and certainly one I will be making again soon. This will be a new family favorite.
Colleen
Hi Mary! Your additions of nutmeg, ginger, and almonds sound so good! Thanks for sharing, glad you loved the cake.
Rosie
Hello 👋
In general, I am very pleased with the recipe, but there are some improvements that I will definitely make for myself, maybe it will come in handy for someone too. 1. Next time I'll remove any moisture from the ricotta by squeezing it into a sieve or through a nut milk bag. 2. I will fry the apples in a pan with butter and a little brown sugar. The goal is to enhance the aroma of apples and again, to remove excess water. 3. 175 C and 60 minutes is not enough precisely because of the abundance of moisture 4. After about 70 minutes, I smeared the surface a little with butter and sprinkled with brown sugar, after which I put it in the oven for another 10 minutes. (do not sprinkle with sugar before baking so that it does not burn)
Barb
this was delicious but somehow, my cake did not hold together. It did not slice into firm slices - more like a firm exterior with crumbling interior.
It did not taste undercooked. Perhaps the apples were too moist?
I have been told that almond flour is difficult to bake with --ideas? I would like to make this again but would like it to hold together better.
Colleen
Hi Barb, I'm sorry to hear that your cake turned out crumbly. Ricotta cakes are usually dense, but moist, and this one is no exception. There could be one of a few reasons for the crumbling texture. Here are ones that come to mind: Baking at too high temperature; ovens vary and often run hotter than your settings. Overmixing: the batter should be mixed until just combined. Measuring: almond flour shouldn't be packed in the measuring scoop; it will result in using too much flour. I hope it turns out better for you next time. Thank you for sharing. I plan to update the recipe with those tips.
Carol C.
I baked this cake for the first time and brought it to my sister's house for a family dinner.
Everyone loved the cake! I can't wait to make it again it was delicious.
Colleen
Hi Carol! I'm so happy to hear that everyone loved the ricotta cake. It's a family favorite for us, too. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment.