Monday, April 11, 2011

PPQ: Strawberry-Ricotta Cake


This week's Project Pastry Queen recipe was chosen by Amanda of Fake Ginger.  This was actually one of the first recipes that caught my eye when I first flipped through The Pastry Queen, but I was a little put off by the method she uses to assemble the cake.  First, an angel food cake is baked and sliced into 3 even layers.  Then comes the weird part.  It's layered in a mixing bowl with a sweetened ricotta filling, then inverted and iced with freshly whipped cream and topped with fresh strawberries.  The mixing bowl step is what threw me off.  I just couldn't envision the finished product.

I considered making cupcakes instead, but in the end I was really just curious to see how this would turn out.  And guess what?  It wasn't as weird or difficult as I expected!  I have several mixing and serving bowls, so I just took a look and estimated  which one looked the best.  The layers fit perfectly in the bowl, and after chilling the cake for about an hour, it unmolded perfectly!


The ricotta filling is really what makes this cake special.  The combination of the light and fluffy angel food cake with the sweet and creamy ricotta is really wonderful.  I enhanced my filling a bit by adding a few tablespoons of strawberry preserves, and I also halved the heavy cream to keep the filling nice and thick. 

After it was assembled, it was almost too pretty to slice into - almost.  The cake almost tastes like a trifle - the ricotta filling is partially absorbed by the cake, and the fresh strawberry slices and whipped cream tie it all together.  This is really just a fancy version of strawberry shortcake.  And a delicious one at that!

Amanda has the full recipe posted on her blog.  And check back next week for caramel-filled brownies!



12 comments:

Dishes of Mrs. Fish said...

Strawberries and ricotta, yes please!
This cake sounds and looks divine!

amanda @ fake ginger said...

Love it! I was scared of the mixing bowl thing too but I love how everyone else's turned out. So cute! Thanks for baking with me! :)

Shawnda said...

That's exactly how my sister described it (with her mouth full): fancy strawberry shortcake. Great job!

dani said...

BEAUTIFUL!

Pam said...

Wowwww, what a beautiful cake and I looks to be delicious, I love ricotta and strawberry of course, so I need to try it :)
xoxo

Unknown said...

It's gorgeous

Sarah from 20somethingcupcakes said...

Gorgeous! Oh, I am sad I missed this one!

Kelsey said...

I love this, Josie! What a perfect cake to bring to a Sunday dinner this spring or summer.

Allison said...

This screams spring time. It is really spectacular ... so glad you didn't turn it into cupcakes.

Cornelius the Pig said...

so pretty!!

TheresaSea said...

Beautiful!

om nom nom nom :)

Mary @Delightful Bitefuls said...

This is gorgeous!!!

Mary xo
Delightful Bitefuls

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