I recently saw a recipe in a magazine for a Pear and Ricotta Tart, the pictures looked beautiful and I thought I’d give it a go. So the next time I went out to the supermarket I stocked up on ricotta (a whole kilo of the stuff) and pears. When I got home again and had another look at the recipe, it didn’t quite have the same appeal as it did the first time – maybe I was super-hungry when I first saw it or something. The other thing is, I’m not a fan of desserts with pastry…so I really don’t know what was going through my mind that day.
So now I have a kilo of ricotta and no recipe. That’s when I remembered a recipe book that I have called “The Dairy” and thought I’d see what cakes were in there that used ricotta. I’ve had this recipe book for over a year and even though I’ve bookmarked a few of the recipes I’ve never actually made any…until now.
There was a recipe in there for a Prune and Ricotta cake, it sounded nice enough, but there were no pictures to accompany the recipe. I don’t usually like to make recipes unless I’ve seen the picture. Anyway, I’m glad I did make this cake because it was delicious! It has such a light texture, the only flour it has in it is cornflour. So it would be great for those who are gluten-intolerant.
Make sure you set aside enough time to make this one, it takes two hours to bake.
Here’s how to make it:
Ingredients
150g pitted prunes, chopped
2 tablespoons marsala
500g ricotta cheese
250g caster sugar
3 eggs lightly beaten
125ml pouring cream
60g cornflour, sifted
60g grated chocolate
Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C (the book doesn’t say if that is for a fan-forced oven or not, my oven is fan-forced so I baked the cake for about an hour at 160°C, then turned it down to 150°C for the last hour). Grease a 23cm round cake tin and line with baking paper.
Combine chopped prunes and marsala in a small saucepan. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 30 seconds, or until the marsala has been absorbed. Allow to cool.
Using electric beaters, beat the ricotta and sugar in a mixing bowl for 4 minutes, or until light and creamy.
Gradually add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the cream and beat for another 2 minutes. It looks like custard at this point. Gently fold in the cornflour, prune mixture and chocolate with a metal spoon.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 2 hours or until firm and cooked. Test with skewer. I cooked mine for an hour and half and then it was starting to brown too much, so I loosely covered with foil for the last half hour.
Leave in the tin for 15-20 minutes before gently turning out on a wire rack to cool.
Serve with a dollop of double cream and enjoy the yumminess!
The two-hour wait was worth it, this is now one of my favourite desserts!
Tags: baked cheesecake, baking, cake, cheesecake, dessert, gluten-free, prune, recipe, ricotta, ricotta and prune, ricotta cake
