Lately, it seems like everyone is stumbling upon awesome late-winter citrus but me. Intensely-moist blood orange recipes are showing up everywhere, from Smitten Kitchen’s blood orange olive oil cake to Rachel Manley’s orange and almond cake. And gosh darn it, I wanted to make something amazing out of blood oranges too.
But sleepy little Washington, DC is evidently not a hub of citrus importation, because I checked out most of the markets in my area and could not find any blood oranges. I ended up settling for a plain old navel orange, and hoped I could make something delicious out of it.
After I saw the Rachel Manley recipe adaptation on d*s that included blood orange curd, I knew where I was headed. I ended up with a cake that was so good I made it twice. In one week.
Ground walnuts replace some of the flour in this cake, and ricotta replaces the milk that might normally be present. The result is a dense, not-too-sweet cake, complemented by thin layers of fresh-whipped cream and tart orange curd.
I will admit that the orange curd takes a bit of time and stirring. Ultimately, you have much more than you need for the cake—plenty left over for dollop-ing on individual slices or serving with toast and tea.
Not to mention, you’ll have enough left over for the next time you make this cake. Which, if it disappears as quickly as it did at the Yellow House, will be in, oh, approximately three days.
Walnut ricotta cake with orange curd & cream
Adapted liberally from Rachel Manley’s almond yogurt cake.
You will need
For curd:
1 large navel orange, zest and juice
1/2 cup sugar
9 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3 eggs, beaten
For cake:
3/4 cup ricotta (2% or whole; I wouldn’t use skim)
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup walnuts, ground
For assembly:
Heavy cream
Powdered sugar (optional)
Directions
Orange curd:
Heat zest and juice, sugar and butter a double boiler over simmering water. Stir tuntil the butter has melted. Slowly whisk the eggs in and continue to cook, stirring very often, until the mixture begins to thicken, about 10 minutes. Don’t allow it to boil, or it will curdle. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes; the mixture should thicken slightly. Pour curd into sterilized (boiled in hot water) jars, and leave to cool completely, then store in the fridge.
Cake:
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Butter two 8-inch cake pans. Whisk the ricotta, oil, vanilla, and sugar together, then whisk in each egg until incorporated. Stir in the flour, salt, baking powder, and ground walnuts. Divide the batter between the two cake pans and bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden and the top springs back to the touch. Allow to cool. Whisk the heavy cream until soft peaks form.
Assembly:
Spread one of the cakes with cream, then carefully spread orange curd on top of the cream. Top with the other cake. If desired, dust with powdered sugar. Serve with an extra dollop of orange curd and cream.
Just found your blog today-it’s gorgeous! I love your photography and the little jar your curd is in is so sweet.
The cake looks delicious. Walnut and orange sounds like an absolutely heavenly combination of flavours. I don’t think I could improve on that combination but I think almondy cake with lemon curd would be pretty good too.
Thank you, Catherine! I’m still new at this, so your feedback means the world.
I agree about the almond–the original Rachel Manley recipe calls for it, but I had walnuts on hand. It gives it a bit denser feel, I think.
Thanks again—
S
Just found you, too! Wow, what stunning photography. Totally drew me in… not to mention, this cake sounds ridiculously fabulous!
Great blog; happy I found you!
Mary xx
Delightful Bitefuls
This cake looks absolutely lovely! The flavors sounds perfect with one another. I’ll definitely give this recipe a try, it’s such an elegant dessert!
I have to be honest, when it comes to food I’m kind of a neanderthal. I hardly know anything about it let alone make something decent myself. But this walnut cake has me thinking I should finally start doing something about my aforementioned problem :D.
I bet I could print your photos, eat the paper and they would still taste great!
Mmmmm this looks so good! Definitely must try….
What's this?
You are currently reading Walnut ricotta cake with orange curd & cream at The Yellow House.
meta
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
Archives
Categories
© 2011-2018
Based on a design by pnts
Powered by WordPress