Ricotta Orange Pound Cake

This months issue of the Food Network Magazine, featured this recipe for Ricotta Orange Pound Cake as an idea for Holiday gift giving. I thought the recipe looked so good and that it would make a really nice teacher gift. It would be something that David would even be able to help make. So we headed to the Christmas Tree Shop and picked up some really cute holiday bread pans and the ingredients for the cake. Baking is NOT my thing so unfortunately the first try was a disaster. I tried again a few days later and came a lot closer. I was going to just go to my go to banana bread recipe (passed down from my Nana Scott) that I have been making for years, but the cake tasted so good, I just needed to tweak my execution! I gave it one last go tonight and third time was definitely a charm! David is very excited to be giving out this recipe to his teachers.

What You Need:
1 1/2 cups cake flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, room temperature, plus more to grease the baking pan
1 1/2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups sugar, plus 1 tablespoon
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 orange, zested
2 tablespoons Amaretto
Powdered sugar, for dusting

The Steps:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 by 5 by 3-inch loaf pan with butter. In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir to combine.

Using an electric mixer, cream together the butter, ricotta, and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. With the machine running, add the eggs 1 at a time. Add the vanilla, orange zest, and Amaretto until combined. Add the dry ingredients, a small amount at a time, until just incorporated. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean and the cake is beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 45 to 50 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Using a mesh sieve, dust the cooled cake with powdered sugar.

The Verdict:
Obviously with 1 1/2 sticks of butter, it's not exactly figure friendly, but it's so good it's worth it! I am so happy that I was finally able to figure it out. They will be given to David's teachers tomorrow. I wrapped each loaf in plastic wrap and then put it back into the pan.

I obviously omitted the powdered sugar, I thought it would be too messy since I needed to wrap them to keep them fresh.