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
- 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 grapeseed oil, organic canola oil, vegetable oil, or olive oil
- 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.
- 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.
251 Comments on “One-Bowl, Orange-Ricotta Pound Cake”
I made it! And I love it!
I live in Ecuador, south América.
Thanks
Wonderful to hear this, Susana!
I made this with just orange juice and it was so good. Served warm with blueberry sauce and whip cream! And also substituted olive oil. Delicious!! Will make again.
Wonderful to hear this, Andrea!
Can this recipe be baked in a mini cupcake pan? At what temperature and how long?
Sure! I haven’t tried, so I can’t give an exact time, but I would keep the temperature the same and start checking at 15 minutes or so? I would reference other recipes you’ve used in mini cupcake pans and see what they recommend.
I made this in the mini cupcake tins, baked at 350 for 18 minutes. They turned out great. They are not brown on top but a little tan on the bottom but in a good way. Followed the recipe except used orange juice vs. liquor and added 1 teas. vanilla. I plan to freeze 3 per package for snacks.
I got 58 mini cupcakes out of the recipe and calculated approximately 67 calories per cupcake which isn’t too bad. Thanks!
Diane, amazing!! Wow, thanks so much for sharing all of this good info. So helpful for people. I would love to have a stash of these minis on hand … what a satisfying snack! Thanks again for writing.
I made this in a 9×11 inch cake pan as my loaf tins wouldn’t have accommodated the batter. Took around 1 hour 15 min to bake and surprisingly the top didn’t brown as much as the pictures. I’m queen of overbaking, however this turned out to be one of the best pound cake recipes. Never thought you could get something so scrumptious with just a few ingredients and 1 BOWL (talk about easy clean up!). I used a combination of light butter and EVOO. Added orange juice and lemon zest (out of orange). And finally added a cup of frozen blueberries. I think that’s what added the extra moisture hence the extra cooking time. Absolutely perfect!
Amazing! Wonderful to hear all of this, Danya! I love the idea of blueberries here. Yum!
I made this today but I didn’t have ricotta tho. I had frozen European style small curd that I chopped in smaller pieces (it was really frozen) and the package had 13.6 ounces so I used all of it. I mixed it for a while and the curd came apart and combined nicely with the eggs. The dough was denser than yours (at least yours looks pretty runny) so I added fresh orange juice (from 1/2 orange) at the end but kept everything else the same. It turned out perfect! It is so good that even my I-don’t-like-pund-cakes husband liked it 🙂 win-win! Thank you for the recipe!
Wonderful to hear this, Kristine! So nice to know this can work with cottage cheese! Nice work improvising with the ingredients and using your judgement based on the visual appearance 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Thanks! You are my favorite! <3
I second everyone here, the cake comes out super delicious. Ali: your recipes never disappoint me. I put vanilla bean ice cream on top of cake squares and garnish with fresh strawberries. Wish there’s a link to share a picture. Thank you so much for sharing. 😊
Oh wow, yum! Anu, that sounds absolutely amazing. Thank you for your kind words 🙂 🙂 🙂
This is a wonderful recipe! I’ve made it twice To bring as hostess gifts and have gotten rave reviews. I make this in my 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.75” pan, which is a bit small, so I fill my pan with about 900 grams of batter and make 3-4 muffins. A hostess gift + a bonus of muffins for us to keep!
Brilliant! Love this so much, Christina. I think filling pans to the proper height is half the battle for so many people. It is never worth it to over-fill the pan. Thanks for writing!
Hi Alexandra, your cakes are so wonderful! Your lemon semolina cake is my go-to one it’s incredible! I always get compliments when I make it 🙂
On this one, which version do you think it is moister, butter or oil? I really love very moist cakes – like the semolina loaf mentioned above which has almond flour so I know it’s different. Which fat do you recommend using I’m order to achieve that?
Also do you think replacing some of the flour with cornmeal/semolina could work?
Thanks so much!
Hi Claudia! So nice to hear this, thank you 😍😍😍😍
I love oil in this recipe. The cake is SO moist, and it is always well received.
Regarding replacing flours, maybe do a teensy bit of googling first: semolina is wheat flour, so it should be absolutely fine. Cornmeal is made from corn, so it’s gluten-free, so while it will add a lovely flavor and texture, it may not provide the structure … the only way I figure these things out is by experimenting and taking notes. I love the idea of a bit of cornmeal and/or semolina here. Keep me posted!
I doubled the recipe and baked two loaves. Glad I did. I sliced individual slices of the first loaf and kept the other loaf on the counter. Husband packed one for work each day and ate the counter loaf for dessert, thank goodness he is thin! This cake is delicious. Sort of a cross between a cheese cake and pound cake…yum….and thank you for the recipe. 🙂
Wonderful to hear this Maryann! Thanks so much for writing. Glad you and your husband approve 🙂 🙂 🙂
You are welcome. I left a piece of information out: The slices were individually wrapped and frozen. We enjoyed this cake so much I baked it a second time and I will be baking it for the third time very soon. Thanks again…
So nice to hear this, Maryann!
This is my favorite cake to make- and the most requested by my co-workers (I bake for my team every week).
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe- it truly is a perfect cake! This evening when I made it I subbed in Limencello and lemon zest for the orange liqueur and orange zest. Delicious!
So wonderful to hear this, Olivia! Limoncello sounds amazing.
I made this loaf last week and again today. Moist and delicious. My whole family liked it. You can sprinkle confectioners sugar on top if you like. I have made ricotta cookies in the past which was a hit. I iced the top and added sprinkles.
Oh yum! That all sounds so good. Thanks so much for writing 🙂
Thanks what a great recipe! I made it with my four year old and it was superb and so easy! Have you ever put any frosting or icing on it? If so, what kind? My daughter was asking to so maybe I’ll make one next time. I love your site!
So nice to hear this, Ko! I have never put any frosting on it, but I feel like a simple confectioners sugar + milk glaze would be good. Or a cream cheese frosting… my kids’ favorite 🙂
I made this yesterday following the recipe but used orange juice instead of the liqueur. It was wonderful. Easy to make and came out looking just like yours. Nice and moist, cuts fine into slices. Thanks for the recipe and all your good advice.
Oh yay, wonderful to hear this, Don! I love this one this time of year. Great to hear orange juice worked in place of the liqueur. Thanks for writing!
The BEST most delicious light yummy cake I have made.
Will do it again. Easy too
Wonderful to hear this, Arti! Thanks so much for writing.
Made this again,with a few changes. Decreased the sugar by 1/2 cup.
Added a whole orange ( blended in a nutribullet).
Fabulous
Wonderful to hear this, Arti! Great to know less sugar works out fine. Thanks for writing!
I made this last night and it is out of this world delicious! Thank you!
Great to hear, Richard!
What a fabulous cake. I made mine in the mini size and plan to keep some in the freezer to use when unexpected guests come. A slice with some warmed pie filling and a bit of whipped cream turns into a five star dessert. Thanks so much for a wonderful recipe.
So nice to hear this, Joan! It is SO nice having this cake on hand in the freezer. Glad you enjoyed!
I was shy about 100g of ricotta and added some chèvre and cottage cheese until I was at about 364. Also used mandarine and satsuma zest instead of orange. This cake is unreal good!
Wonderful to hear this, Lacy! Love that you were able to adapt it to what you had on hand. Thanks for writing!
I love this recipe and have been making it as a Christmas baked gift since first published in 2018. I add a little bit more orange flavor by heating up the juice of an orange with some sugar and pouring it over the hot bread when it comes out of the oven. Add a little sweetness, but it’s the holidays!
Oh I love this idea, Amy! Thanks so much for sharing and thanks for writing. Happy holidays!!
I plan to make this quick bread tomorrow, but I also got to thinking, do you think this could be baked as muffins? Do you think the muffins might get too dry? How long would you think they should bake if I tried it?
Hi Lu! Sorry for the delay here. I think they would be delicious as muffins and not dry at all. My only concern is that you might not get the classic domed top because the muffins are so moist … but it’s totally worth a shot. I would start checking at 22-25 minutes. Let me know if you give them a go!
This cake is excellent! I adapted the eecipe slightly and used just half the amount of sugar and it was sweet enough for me.
Great to hear, Barbara! Thanks for writing.
I made this today after buying some Grand Marnier. I was afraid I would never use it again, but I will, because this cake is delicious. I made three mini loaf pans and one medium loaf pan, Took close to 50 minutes. For the larger one, which we are eating, I took some orange juice from the zested orange and mixed it with powdered sugar for a glaze. It turned out well. Thanks for another one-bowl recipe, my favorite!
So great to hear all of this. Your glaze sounds lovely 🙂 🙂 🙂 Thanks for writing.
Another hit from Alexandra Cooks!! So many of your cakes appeal to me me because they are simple, but that simplicity comes with a wallop of flavor, a gorgeous crumb and a feast for the eyes! I picked this cake for a celebratory dessert, but also because I had all the ingredients on hand and it meant I didn’t have to make another run to the store. By using my scale and going by weight (instead of lugging out a million measuring cups), this cake came together in just under FIVE MINUTES (timed!). Like you do with a few of your other cakes, I opted to use my food processor for this. What a dream! I also used a weird pan from Germany that almost looks like a pullman loaf pan but is slightly wider and slightly more angled but not nearly as angled as a regular loaf pan; it’s a pretty shape. I filled my regular loaf pan with water and then I dumped it into my weird pan and they held approximately the same amount. The recipe itself was spot on perfect. The weights are right, the timing is right and it hit 200 degrees when I checked it at exactly 60 minutes. I love the gorgeous, glossy domed top with its pretty crack! As great as I could tell it was, I can never help but gild the lily so I made a bright, tangy blood orange compote/syrup to drizzle over the top. I suprémed and zested 3 blood oranges, threw them in a small saucepan with sugar, lemon juice, water and a few good blobs of seville orange marmalade, then let it reduce until it was syrupy. I drizzled it over the top of the warm cake and let it soak it until I was ready to serve it tonight. Served with a small scoop of bourbon vanilla gelato, some freshly whipped cream and a little drizzle of my blood orange syrupy compote. My friends were all like “What amazing thing is this that we are eating – SO GOOD?!” I’m so glad that Alexandra Cooks exists – it is the one website where the tastes align uncannily with mine and the recipes are always just about perfect!
Oh my goodness, Erin, a blood orange syrup/compote sounds SOOOOOO pretty and delicious!! THank you for writing and for sharing all of this. I love the idea of glamming this cake up and serving it as a fancy dessert. All of your touches sound unreal. Thank you for the kind words … means a lot 🙂 🙂 🙂
I would like to halve this recipe. What would you suggest for the eggs? 1 or 2?
Hi Nichole, I imagine 1 egg would be fine. If they’re on the small side, use 2; if they’re on the large side, use 1.
I did not wind up making muffins as I asked about in this thread previously. Why?
Because in loaf form, it’s too beautiful to pass on! So my review is 5 stars for sure. As a reader/commenter here suggested above, I also reduced the sugar to 1 cup instead of 1.5 cups and it was just fine with less sugar. The pound cake is delicious and a festive touch to the ending of any meal.
So great to hear this, Lu! Loved your photo. I will definitely try the reduced sugar version next time. Happy happy baking to you! xo
Divine cake I used just 1 cup of sugar half of which was muscovado .
Wonderful to hear this! Thanks so much for writing. So many of you are having success with the sugar cut back … going to give it a go next time.
hi Ali, I just made these, thank you for the tip of checking the temperature. I made 2 small loaves and muffins with the remainder (and also thank you for putting in the time estimate for the smaller loaf pans). They smell so good, and measuring the temperature was really a great help (especially with my oven which seems to be a bit flaky). I will be giving these as gifts!
So nice to hear this, Roberta! I find the thermometer check to be so helpful for the same reason … an unreliable oven! How nice you will be gifting these. Happy happy holidays to you!
It was so good. I made a few changes replaced the liqueur with orange juice and 1/2 cup less sugar. It turned out to be amazing, perfectly moist and yet good enough to be holding its shape.
Wish I could attach a photo along with
Wonderful to hear this, Isha! Thanks so much for writing 🙂 🙂 🙂
So easy and delicious, have made many times – everything she says about this cake is 100% truth! The lemon version is awesome too, love it in the spring with fresh strawberries.
So great to hear this, Shelley 🙂 🙂 🙂 Thanks so much for writing.
Good morning! Found your blog through an article in The Daily Gazette. So glad I did! Can olive oil be substituted for the vegetable oil?
Hi Cathy! Great to hear 🙂 🙂 🙂 Yes, you can use olive oil.