One-Bowl, Orange-Ricotta Pound Cake
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
Made with both olive oil and ricotta, this one-bowl orange-ricotta pound cake is incredibly moist and so fast to assemble. It is a favorite to have on hand for any sort of holiday for its deliciousness and ability to stay moist for days.
Just before Thanksgiving, I decided to make one of my favorite cakes, Giada De Laurentiis’s orange-ricotta pound cake, substituting oil for the butter. It worked beautifully and best of all, the cake materialized in one bowl very quickly.
This made me wonder which other cakes made with butter could be given the same treatment? I haven’t experimented extensively, but I suspect nearly all. I have long loved the flavor and texture of cakes made with oil, olive or otherwise, but I especially love making cakes with olive oil this time of year. Here’s why:
- No need to wait for butter to soften. If you have a microwave, softening butter is likely no big deal. If you don’t, it’s a pain in the rear. This time of year, butter doesn’t soften quickly on the countertop, so other tricks must be employed.
- No need to beat butter. Many cake recipes call for beating butter till it’s light and fluffy. No such instruction is called for with oil-based cakes.
- Speed. Without having to soften butter or beat it, oil-based cakes come together very quickly.
- Texture. This is a personal thing: I prefer (often) the texture of oil-based cakes.
- Longevity. In my experience, cakes made with oil keep longer, which is a boon this time of year, when anything that can be made ahead of time holds strong appeal. Often, too, the flavor of cakes made with oil improves over time.
How to Make One-Bowl Pound Cake
Gather your ingredients:
Add them one by one, as instructed, and whisk to form a batter.
Transfer to a 9×5-inch loaf pan. I love this USA Loaf Pan.
Bake for about an hour or until an instant-read thermometer registers about 200ºF. I love my Javelin for testing cakes—I tend to underbake cakes and am perpetually disappointed when I cut into one only to find uncooked batter.
Let cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
One-Bowl, Orange-Ricotta Pound Cake
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf
Description
Adapted from this Giada De Laurentis recipe, this version calls for oil in place of butter, and the whole thing is made in one bowl.
This cake keeps well for days—tuck it in an airtight bag or container. It makes a beautiful gift—wrap it in parchment paper and tie it with baker’s twine.
Loaf Pans: I love this 9×5-inch USA Loaf Pan. Around the holidays, I often use three mini loaf pans, because this is a great cake for gifting.
Also: I can’t say enough about this reasonably priced instant-read thermometer for testing cakes. For this cake, if it registers above 200ºF, it’s done. Most recently, this cake took more like an hour and ten minutes to bake, but without my instant-read thermometer, I likely would have removed it from the oven too soon.
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups (364 g) whole-milk ricotta cheese
- 3/4 cup (164 g) oil, anything from extra-virgin olive oil to grapeseed oil
- 2 tablespoons (26 g) orange-flavored liqueur such as Grand Marnier
- 1 1/2 cups (300 g) granulated sugar
- 1.5 teaspoon (6 g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt (or half as much by volume Morton kosher salt or fine sea salt)
- zest of 1 orange
- 2 1/2 (11 g) teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 cups (192 g) all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease one 9×5-inch loaf pan with butter or nonstick spray. Line with parchment paper for easy removal, optional. Alternatively, grease three mini loaf pans.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and ricotta till blended. Add the oil and liqueur and whisk until blended. Add the sugar, salt, and zest, and whisk again to combine. Add the baking powder and whisk again to incorporate. Add the flour and use a spatula to incorporate until it is no longer visible.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan or pans and bake until a toothpick comes out clean and the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan, 50 to 60 minutes (or longer; about 35 minutes for mini pans). If you have an instant-read thermometer, it should register about 200ºF. Let the loaves cool completely in their pans, then turn out onto a rack. Do not wrap until completely cool.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Quick Bread
- Method: bake
- Cuisine: American
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
299 Comments on “One-Bowl, Orange-Ricotta Pound Cake”
Unbelievably good. I am baking extra loaves right now to give as gifts to the neighbours ❤️
So nice to hear this Nancy! Thanks for writing. Happy Holidays!
Hi Ali, in my country it is difficult to find ricotta cheese. What can i substitute ricotta cheese for? Can you give me a few options if possible? Thank you. I love your blog and website so much.
Hi! I’d try sour cream. You can also make the ricotta from scratch: Creamy 4-Ingredient Homemade Ricotta
Hi Ali — do you think I could use Greek yogourt in place of the ricotta?
I think you could! I’d measure by weight if possible, which I think will be slightly less by volume — I feel like ricotta is lighter than Greek yogurt.
This orange pound cake is so good.
It is so moist. Scrumptious.
It did take the full hour and ten minutes to bake.
Great to hear, Fiona! Thanks so much for writing 🙂
Hi Ali! I want to make this orange loaf cake tomorrow but don’t have any orange liqueur handy. Is there something I can substitute? What is the flavor like with the liqueur vs without? I will buy some if I have to lol.
Thanks! ❤️
I left this same question on your IG but I got an automatic alert that the best way to communicate was through your blog, so sorry for the duplicate messages!
Hi! And thank you for commenting here… I am much faster with responses here, though I was away for the weekend so apologies for the delay. You can use fresh squeezed orange juice in place of the liqueur 🙂
This cake is unbelievable. Such little effort, such high reward. I have so many of your recipes in my constant rotation, this one will be no different. (I made the lemon version mentioned and added a blueberry glaze) Thank you!
Great to hear, Julia! Thanks so much for writing and sharing this 🙂
How can I make this GF?
I think using a gluten free mix like Cup 4 Cup would work out really well here.
So delicious! I followed the recipe exactly and it turned out perfectly! I decided to add a light glaze on top just to finish it off. Mixed fresh OJ, orange zest and powdered sugar and spread it over the top and drizzled down the sides. Will definitely make this again!
Great to hear, Anne Marie! Thanks for writing and sharing your notes 🙂
Such a delicious cake and so easy to make–who doesn’t like a one bowl recipe when you are scrambling to get dinner on the table! The next morning this received rave reviews at my board meeting. I purchased the instant-read thermometer and you are correct, at 200*F the cake/loaf is perfectly baked. If I was just gauging the bake time on the recipe it would have been closer to 1 hour and 10 minutes, such a variation so this thermometer is a game changer. I am devoted to your recipes, Ali, Thank you for all you do and the tips you share. Much appreciated
You are too sweet, Barbara! It’s so nice to read this. Thanks so much for writing and sharing all of this. The thermometer has been game changing for me as someone who tends to under-bake things. So glad the cake was a hit!
Everything looked great but as the cake cooled, the middle part deflated. Wondering what is causing it to do that. I made sure it baked fully and even checked the temp as you suggested.
Hi! Did you use a scale to measure? That usually happens when the cake is under baked. How long did you bake it for?
Thank you for responding to my comment. I always use scale and for this cake, I did weigh out the ingredients. Also I did bake over 60 minutes because of your suggestion. With that , I’m still puzzled as to why the middle top deflated after cooling. It looked perfect when I got it out of the oven and I was so excited. But as it cooled it sank. Still the cake tastes wonderful even though it’s not picture perfect like yours.
It sounds as though you are doing everything right. What material pan are you using? And was it 9×5 inches? I do think the material of the pan can affect how these types of cake bake, and if the pan was smaller than 9×5 inches, it’s also possible that it was too much batter for the size pan.
so I made the orange pound cake. it baked for at least twice as long to get up to speed. in the end the texture was thick as heck. measured, used a scale, wolf stove, sea level, one variation was I used an immersion blender as I have hand issues. any thoughts here? I love the taste but failed on texture. I actually remeasured the pan to make sure it was not too small. ???? also. thanks for split pea soup – a favorite
and we ate the whole thing anyway. just think I should have had a different looking result. thx
Gosh, so interesting! My only thought is that it is possible that the immersion blender could have whipped too much air into it? What type of flour are you using?
Made the lemon version with 2 notable changes – used part skim ricotta and made as muffins. Made 23 muffins (yes I know, I could’ve portioned slightly better) and baked for 30 min to get to the 200 mark. Came out with a faint lemon taste – need a glaze or frosting for a real *punch*. But easy and perfectly moist. May add raspberries next time. Recommend.
Great to hear! Thanks for writing and sharing all of these notes 🙂
Our new favorite!!Simply, easy,yummy and Olive Oil. Thank you! Thank you!
Great to hear, Kate! Thanks for writing 🙂
I’m curious if anyone has tried this with grapefruit instead of orange? Could I sub fresh squeezed grapefruit juice for the liqueur and the zest of one grapefruit?
I think it would be delicious! I haven’t tried, but I say go for it 🙂
Happy to report back that I subbed grapefruit juice and zest (which I rubbed into the sugar to release more of the flavor) and it was a smash hit! I used a thermometer to test for internal temp and it did take about 85 minutes – but it was worth the wait! I also added a little glaze with some extra grapefruit juice and confectioner’s sugar. Rave reviews from the Easter brunch crowd. Thanks, as always, Ali!
Great to hear, Meg! Thanks so much for writing and sharing all of this. Love the idea of grapefruit flavors here, and your glaze sounds lovely, too.
I made this yesterday with grapeseed oil and it was phenomenal! The one issue I had was that although I usually bake by weight the salt measurement looked a little off so I weighed out 1.5 tsp Diamond kosher salt before adding and it only came to 3 g. I’m really glad I did not just put in 6 g or the cake would have been far too salty.
I’m following the recipe exactly and I not getting that dark, crisp crust on top that I see in your picture. Should I be baking at a higher temp? I tried baking it longer, but I’m still not getting that dark crust that I want.
Interesting! Do you think your oven runs cool? And material is the pan you are using? You can definitely increase the temperature, but do keep an eye on it during the baking process.
I’m using a Nordic Ware aluminum loaf pan. I rally don’t know if my oven runs cool, but I can try to check. Is increasing the temp to 375, or even 400, too much?
I would start at 375ºF and see how that works. You can turn it up half way if you’re not getting any browning. But again: do keep an eye on it because these types of cakes tend to do a lot of their browning toward the end of the cooking time.
Hi. I only have a glass loaf pan. Do I need to make any adjustments for that…time/temp?
I would just keep an eye on it. Do you have an instant read thermometer to test for doneness?
I googled the question, and it said to lower the temp by 25 degrees and cook a bit longer for even baking. It baked for 1 hr 30 min to get to 205. Hopefully the center will be done!
I hope it turned out OK!
I am wondering if there is any reason you switched to orange vs lemon when you used oil vs butter. Although it is likely just a preference, it is possible the orange lean works better with oil vs lemon with butter. Any results on this either way?
No reason! I actually included a lemon version, based on this recipe, in my book Pizza Night — lemon works great 🙂
no changes…was a huge hit. Sent home one of our guests with a piece and they said it was even orangy-er the next day. Ali, what are your top 5 go to non-cookie desserts for wowing? I’ve done the Bolzano (amazing) and this orange ricotta so far.
So nice to hear this, Nikki! Here are a few others I love:
Orange and Olive Oil Cake
Nigella Lawson’s Boozy Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake
Applesauce Yogurt Bundt Cake
Teddie’s Apple Cake
Ultimate Carrot Cake
This pond cake is so easy and delicious! My family loved it. I will continue to make this. Especially I always have leftover ricotta in the refrigerator! Thank you.
Great to hear, Camille! Thanks for writing 🙂
Oh my gosh…..Eating the cake as I’m typing this. It turned out sooo good. The outside is very crispy brown and the inside is fluffy yellow. I used EVOO and subbed lemon zest+juice for orange zest+liquor (had none on hand). Couldn’t bring myself to put all that sugar in so I put 3/4 cup granulated cane and about 1/2 cup allulose. Still turned out great. Thank you so much for this amazing cake!
Great to hear! Thanks for writing and sharing your notes 🙂