Lemon Ricotta Cake with Blueberry Glaze

This citrus-packed Lemon Ricotta Cake is a quick and easy bake with a fluffy texture and moist crumb. Top the cake with a colorful blueberry glaze for a truly perfect dessert!

Why You'll Love This Recipe

If you're looking for an easy lemon ricotta bundt cake recipe, you are in the right place, and has really become a favorite cake of mine! This moist cake has a lighter texture than a pound cake (which can be a rather dense cake) and is made with just a handful of ingredients.

Because it's baked in a bundt pan, the entire cake turns a nice golden brown color with a lightly caramelized exterior to hold in that rich lemon flavor!

This is a great cake for you if you love lemon desserts, and also has the best texture and nice open crumb. The cake is topped with a fresh fruit blueberry glaze, which can be naturally colored to your choice of purple!

This recipe is also great paired with a light and bright lemon curd to really bring home that lemon flavor.

Make this cake a day in advance, then dress it with the blueberry icing when you're ready to serve. This would be a hit for any dinner parties you may have planned!

Ingredients

This delicious lemon ricotta cake is made with incredibly basic ingredients.

• Dry ingredients. All-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt.
• Wet ingredients. Granulated sugar, large eggs, vegetable oil, butter (melted).
• Whole milk ricotta cheese. If it is particularly runny, be sure to drain any excess liquid.
• Vanilla extract.
• Fresh lemons. Fresh lemon zest and fresh lemon juice - about four large lemons.
• Blueberries. Fresh berries or frozen berries can be used for the blueberry glaze.
• Powdered sugar. For the blueberry glaze (also known as confectioners sugar or icing sugar).

See recipe card for quantities.

Kitchen Tools

• Stand mixer or electric hand mixer.
• Bundt pan. Because this recipe doesn't use a springform pan, you also won't need parchment paper.
• Food processor or Microplane. For the lemon zest and lemon sugar.
• Fine-mesh sieve. To strain the blueberry juice for the blueberry glaze.

Substitutions

While this easy ricotta cake uses simple ingredients, there are a few substitutions that can be made. In place of the full-fat ricotta, you could use sour cream, buttermilk, or greek yogurt (all full-fat).

For the blueberry glaze, rather than using all milk, cream or water, you could use lemon juice or limoncello in place (or in addition to).

Variations

If you'd like to pair this moist lemon ricotta cake with a fresh blueberry sauce, you can cook down one extra cup of blueberries with two tablespoons of sugar until the blueberries break down and the juices released become slightly thick.

Additional flavor variations:

• orange instead of lemon
• almond (use almond extract)

How to Make This Recipe

Step 1: Combine the lemon zest and sugar then add it to whipped eggs.

Step 2: Add the wet ingredients and ricotta cheese and mix to combine.

Hot tip! Be sure all dairy ingredients (eggs, ricotta, milk) are at room temperature for a smooth batter and an even bake.

Step 3: Alternate adding the flour mixture, milk, and rest of the flour mixture until combined.

Step 4: Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and bake until set. Cool for 20 minutes, then turn out the cake onto a platter to finish cooling.

Hot tip! Grease the bundt pan, then sprinkle in flour. Use your hands to tap the flour the whole way around the pan, then discard any extra flour left over.

How to Make the Blueberry Glaze

Cook down the blueberries until juices release, then pass the juice through a fine-mesh sieve into a small bowl. Once cool, add it to powdered sugar and drizzle in a bit of heavy cream, milk, or water until a thick but pourable consistency forms.

Check out my Easy Blueberry Glaze for Desserts post for details on how to adjust the color to your preference!

Once the cake is fully cool, pour the glaze over the top so it falls over the sides.

Recipe FAQs

Storage

This cake can be stored a room temperature for one day, then in the fridge for an additional three days. Be sure to store the cake with plastic wrap or in an airtight container. Any uncovered pieces can dry out the cake considerably. 

The cake or slices of cake can also be tightly wrapped in plastic wrap, placed in a tiptop bag and frozen for two months. Unwrap completely and thaw at room temperature.

Add the glaze once the cake is thawed. I do not suggest freezing the cake with the blueberry glaze already on top.

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📖Recipe

Lemon Ricotta Cake with Blueberry Glaze

Callan Wenner

This citrus-packed Lemon Ricotta Cake is a quick and easy bake with a fluffy texture and moist crumb. Top the cake with a colorful blueberry glaze for a truly perfect dessert!

5 from 6 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 50 minutes mins

Rest time 1 hour hr

Total Time 2 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 16 people

Calories 311 kcal

Equipment

• ▢
  Food processor, microplane, or zester
• ▢
  Stand mixer with paddle attachment, or handheld mixer
• ▢
  Bundt pan
• ▢
  Fine mesh sieve

U.S. Cups vs MetricUse the metric toggle to convert the measurements

Ingredients

  

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Lemon Ricotta Cake

• ▢ 3 cups all-purpose flour 360g
• ▢ 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ▢ 4 large eggs two whole eggs, two egg whites (room temperature)
• ▢ 1½ cups granulated sugar 300g
• ▢ 3-4 tablespoons lemon zest or 1½ peeled lemons
• ▢ ¼ cup vegetable oil 60ml
• ▢ ¼ cup unsalted butter melted (57g)
• ▢ ¼ cup lemon juice freshly squeezed (60ml)
• ▢ 2 teaspoons vanilla paste or extract
• ▢ ¾ cup ricotta cheese (full-fat) room temperature (180g)
• ▢ 1 cup whole milk (240ml)

Blueberry Glaze

• ▢ 1 cup blueberries fresh or frozen (115g fresh)
• ▢ 1½ cups powdered sugar sifted (180g)
• ▢ 1-2 tablespoons water, milk, or heavy cream

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 350℉/180℃. Grease and flour a bundt pan and set aside.
• Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.
  3 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• Separate two of the eggs, keeping the whites and saving the yolks for another time.
  4 large eggs
• Peel one and a half lemons and add the peels to the food processor with the sugar. Blend until no chunks of peels remain. Alternatively, zest 3-4 tablespoons of lemon zest using a microplane and mix it into the sugar with your fingertips.
  1½ cups granulated sugar, 3-4 tablespoons lemon zest
• Add the eggs and egg whites to the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on medium high speed for about 3 minutes until foamy and fluffy.
• Add the lemon zest sugar, vegetable oil, melted butter, lemon juice, vanilla, and ricotta and mix to combine, then scrape down the sides.
  ¼ cup vegetable oil, ¼ cup unsalted butter, ¼ cup lemon juice, 2 teaspoons vanilla paste or extract, ¾ cup ricotta cheese (full-fat)
• With the mixer running on low speed, add half of the flour mixture, drizzle in the milk, then add the remaining flour. Stop mixing as soon as the flour is incoprorated.
  1 cup whole milk
• Pour the mixture into the prepared bundt pan and spread evenly. Bake for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean from the center (but still has moist crumbs).
• Remove the pound cake from the oven and rest on a cooling rack for 20 minutes, then turn the cake out of the pan onto a serving platter to finish cooling.

Blueberry Glaze

• When the cake has finished cooling, add the blueberries to a small saucepan over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Gently mash down the blueberries as they are cooking to release all the juices.
  1 cup blueberries
• Once the blueberries have started to break down and produce juices, pass them through a fine mesh sieve into a small bowl so you are left with only the thick liquid.
• Sift the powdered sugar into a separate bowl, and start by adding only 1 - 2 tablespoons of the blueberry juice to the sugar. Mix until incorporated (it will be very thick and pasty at this point), then slowly add in a small drizzle of liquid at a time and whisk together. The glaze should be thick, but pourable.
  1½ cups powdered sugar, 1-2 tablespoons water, milk, or heavy cream
• Once the cake is cool, spoon or pour as much glaze as desired over the cake. Slice, and serve!

Notes

Store the cake at room temperature for one day, then in the refrigerator for an additional three days, tightly covered. 

Test the pour of the glaze on an overturned drinking glass to see how it falls. Add more powdered sugar if it's too thin, and more liquid if it's too thick.

Note that the glaze can be a different color and shade each time it's made and depends on the batch of blueberries. Follow my blueberry glaze post for guidance on how to make different shades of glaze.

Note: This recipe has been adjusted to create a lighter, fluffier texture and was updated on June 22, 2022.

Nutrition

Calories: 311kcalCarbohydrates: 51gProtein: 6gFat: 10gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 62mgSodium: 195mgPotassium: 92mgFiber: 1gSugar: 32gVitamin A: 238IUVitamin C: 4mgCalcium: 86mgIron: 1mg

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