Italian Lemon-Ricotta Cake
- Total Time
- 1½ hours
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 3tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1quart whole milk
- 1¾cups semolina flour
- ½teaspoon kosher salt
- 1¾cups sugar
- 1large or 2 small lemons
- 4large eggs
- 1pound (2 cups) fresh ricotta cheese, strained
- Confectioners’ sugar for sprinkling
- Raspberry sauce (see recipe)
Preparation
- Step 1
Preheat the oven to 325. Butter an 11-inch round cake pan.
- Step 2
Heat the milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat until simmering, then whisk in the semolina and salt. Boil, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat, and stir in the sugar and butter until combined. Transfer the batter to a bowl to cool it down to warm, stirring frequently to prevent a skin from forming.
- Step 3
Zest the lemons, using only the yellow part, and stir into the batter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until combined. Beat in the ricotta.
- Step 4
Pour the batter into the pan, and bake until set and golden in places, about 1 hour. Transfer the pan to a rack to cool, and sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar while still hot. Once the cake has cooled, sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar once more, then serve.
Private Notes
Comments
Professional bakers might have an 11" cake pan. Not so much the rest of us. Elsewhere, it was noted that a 10" cake pan worked with a little bit more cooking. But a recipe developed for such a specific and odd piece of equipment simply doesn't make sense. The NYT should at least offer some instructions for using more commonly sized cake pans.
we serve migliaccio in our pizza shop. our recipe was inspired by a Naples version but we took months tweaking it until we got what i believe to be a masterpiece! fine semolina - not coarse. and always stir that mixture on the stove until it thickens. you should use a stand mixer and really beat it smooth. use 3 cups milk and 1 cup cream. use orange, vanilla and lemon. all 3. and strega if you can. use a few more eggs too. bake lower and longer. and now i've said too much!
This cake was a huge success at a dinner party! Everyone begged to take home extra slices. I used the zest of three lemons and used a 10" springform pan. It was flavorful without being overpowering and very tender and light. I have no idea why there are negative reviews. This one is a keeper!
Well. This is not light nor particularly cheesy. It is pretty! After reading through the comments, I was prepared for the dough to turn to concrete, and simply put the whole glob into the kitchenaid. I used the zest AND juice of 3 lemons, only a cup of sugar. I did not use powdered sugar at all, and this was likely a bad idea. I added vanilla. Extra batter went into 2 buttered ramekins and came out before the main cake. I think the cake and ramekins could have been inverted, but I didn’t try. The ricotta came from a nearby Italian market and was pretty dry — only a tablespoon of whey drained out over a couple of hours. Suggestions: serve with lemon wedges; don’t bother with the melted raspberry jam. It will turn back to jam if the cake is cool or the plates aren’t warmed (because of the pectin). If I ever try this again, I’ll use macerated, frozen raspberries for this part. Good luck! PS In all, it would have tasted like a big German pancake if I’d used the powdered sugar, I think.
I substituted the ricotta with blended cottage cheese and put only 1/2 the sugar, and it's not really good. I guess I will try it again and actually follow the recipe.
Dull tasting and pasty texture. It is cake-like in texture only in the way a cheesecake can be considered a cake, but flour and milk, even if the flour is semolina, is a poor substitute for a more generous use of cheese. It seemed like a depression era version of a cheesecake.