Cheese cream, citrus fruit marmalade, dry nuts and chocolate. What else do you want?
ingredienti per 8 porzioni generose servings (total cost about 7 € for the whole preparation with organic ingredients)
- 250 g di ricotta
- 200 gi di burro
- 200 g di zucchero
- 400 g eggs (about 8)
- 185 g walnuts
- zest from 5 tangerines
- 50 g flour
- un pizzico di cremore di tartaro
- 100 ml tangerine marmalade
- 50 ml di acqua
- 25 g chocolate (optional)
We are in the heart of Autumn. My kitchen has my favorite flavor – Tangerines! Having already made a few jars of tangerine marmalade, which turned out amazing (see QUI how you can make it), I decided to used some of it in this ricotta sponge cake to lift it up to the sky!
First of all we have to slightly toast the walnuts to bring out their oils and aromas, but also because when added to baked preparations they tend to turn green. Then we spread them on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven at max 170 C for about 10 min, depending on their initial moisture level. As soon as we take them out of the oven, we let them cool a bit, then we coarsely chop them, and set aside.
We strain the ricotta to get rid of its liquids. We pass the strained ricotta through the sieve to make it softer and creamier. We should end up with about 225 g of strained and sieved ricotta. We take 150 g of the sugar, place it in a bowl and grate over it the tangerine zest. We mix well with our fingers and let the sugar absorb the oils of the tangerine zest.
We butter very well a 23 cm (5-6 cm height) round cake tin and line its bottom with a disc of parchment paper, then butter again, taking care not to leave spots without lubrication and sprinkle with flour all over, rolling the tin to coat well all the inside surface and we finally tap off the excess flour.
In the stand mixer we cream the already softened butter with the 150 g of the sugar and tangerine zest mixture. We add the eggs yolks, one at a time, until the mixture turns pale white and becomes fluffy. We sift in the flour, add the ricotta, as well as the coarsely chopped walnuts and mix altogether.
Meanwhile, using another clean bowl placed on the stand mixer, we whisk the egg whites with a pinch of cream of tartar on medium low speed until foamy, increase the speed to medium high and whip the eggs to soft mounds about 1 minute. We gradually add the remaining 50 g of sugar, continuing to whip, until they become glossy and rather stiff peaks form (around to 2 minutes).
Finally, we fold the egg whites meringue into the previous mixture in batches, being careful not to deflate them, then spoon the batter into the prepared tin.
We bake in the medium lower part of a preheated oven at 185ºC (static function) for about 30 minutes, or until it rises and settles. We remove from the oven and let the cake cool, completely inside the tin, then we turn it upside-down on a plate and we brush it with the tangerine marmalade, diluted with 50 ml of warmed water. If you like, top with coarsely chopped chocolate.
