One-Bowl, Orange-Ricotta Pound Cake
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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 Thermapen 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
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- 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 a Thermapen for testing cakes. For this one, 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 Thermapen, 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) neutral oil, such as canola or vegetable
- 2 tablespoons (26 g) orange-flavored liqueur such as Grand Marnier
- 1 1/2 cups (320 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon (6 g) kosher 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 (love my Thermapen), 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.
- Category: Quick Bread
- Method: bake
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: quick bread, ricotta, orange, tea cake, loaf cake, breakfast, dessert, holiday, gifts
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
147 Comments on “One-Bowl, Orange-Ricotta Pound Cake”
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. Your instructions and tips helped so much. We really enjoyed. Saving slice for breakfast with coffee tomorrow. Next time will use miniature pans and share with friends.😊
★★★★★
So great to hear this, Carolyn! Thanks so much for writing 🙂 🙂 🙂
Followed the recipe exactly as written. The cake is delicious but it is very oily and can see the oil on a napkin.
Will try your butter recipe next time.
★★★★
Fantastic loaf! It was even better the next day. I made with olive oil b/c we had only a little sunflower oil, and it tasted just fine. I will absolutely make this again.
★★★★★
Wonderful to hear this, Allison! Thanks for writing 🙂
This is a fabulous cake! The texture is perfect, and so is the orange flavor. I made it exactly as written, and it just took an extra 10 minutes (a total of 70 minutes) in my oven. A little confectioners’ sugar sprinkled over the top made it look very elegant. Thanks, Ali for yet another winner!
★★★★★
Wonderful to hear this, Alyson! Love the idea of the confectioners’ sugar sprinkle. Thanks so much for writing and Happy New Year!
I have lots of cream cheese can I use it instead of ricotta?
Hi Rosanna, I’m not sure it will work quite the same way … you could try it, but I can’t make any promises. My guess is that the cake will be denser.
Made as described except used 2 tablespoons of orange juice from the zested orange because I had no Grand Marnier.. made in two smaller loaf pans and baked for 45 minutes. Absolutely wonderful! Perfect teatime cake. The recipe is a keeper. Froze one loaf and enjoying the other now. Thanks!
★★★★★
Wonderful to hear this! Yay for having a loaf in the freezer. Love the feeling of knowing I have a loaf in the freezer I can pull out at any time. Thanks for writing!
Incredible! I love the lemon ricotta version but this one is even better. Thank you!
★★★★★
Great to hear, Elisa! This is my fave, too 🙂
I tried your lemon ricotta pound cake made with butter, and it was incredible! We loved the lemoniness and the textue of that recipe.
I would like to try this oil-based recipe next (with orange flavor) and have two questions:
1. Would this orange ricotta oil pound cake work in a 10″ bundt pan?
2. I would like to cut down on the sugar a little. Do you think that if I reduced the sugar to say, 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons, that it would make it too dry? Would it still rise?
Many thanks,
Linda
★★★★★
Hi Linda! Many people have had success with this one cutting the sugar back to a cup, so definitely cut it back to 1 cup + 2 tablespoons or to a cup.
Regarding the bundt pan: yes, but I don’t know how big the cake will be. The bundt pan will cook it beautifully — I love a bundt pan for that reason — but I’m not sure if this will be a very small bundt cake or if it will be just right. It might take some trial and error. Try it once; then next time around maybe make 1.5x the recipe if it feels too short.
I wonder if I can make this with 2% milk fat ricotta cheese instead of the whole milk fat one?
★★★★★
I’m sure it will be just fine!
I love this recipe. I’ve made mini loaves and shared. Last weekend I made it in a 9″ round pan and it was a bit too much batter. I figured that out after it was in the oven of course. Can I cut this in half and use one egg and one yolk, or are two eggs ago. Thanks.
★★★★★
Oh darn, that’s no fun when you discover it in the oven. But great to hear you love the recipe!
I think 1 egg + 1 yolk would be great. I also think 2 eggs would be fine if you don’t want to deal with the leftover white.
I’ve made this several times now and it is perfect each time. Sometimes we eat it plain and others with a light glaze. Both are incredible. I love your recipes!!!
★★★★★
So nice to hear this, Marly. Thanks so much for writing. Love the idea of a glaze here!