There are yoghurt cakes, soured cream cakes, buttermilk cakes and even whipped cream cakes. But this one, with ricotta cheese and wholemeal flour instead of white is on another plane.
What does dairy do in cakes?
A simple sponge can be turned into deliciously velvety, moist cake by adding dairy to the batter mix. More often than plain milk it’s thicker or fermented dairy product that does the trick. So there are yoghurt cakes, there are soured cream cakes, buttermilk cakes and very rich mascarpone cakes.
Why add dairy instead of water or, let me think: wine (joke, though there are some mainly Italian baking recipes that include wine)? Liquid is necessary in a cake batter, without question, to dissolve sugar and to bind and hydrate flour. But dairy also adds protein and fat to improve the texture and to let the baked goods keep longer. And last but not least the lactose it contains browns quickly, delivering an appetising crust.
Cultured dairy like yoghurt or buttermilk additionally helps the cakes rise as it reacts with bicarbonate of soda producing a carbon dioxide lift in the batter. The same goes for crème fraiche and cottage cheese, both cultured products unless explicitly ultra-processed.
Although cheeses like ricotta, mascarpone, cream or curd cheese are not liquid, they act in the same way as runny yoghurts or kefirs. That’s of course when a recipe requires the cheese to be just one of the ingredients rather than the primary bulk of it. In the latter case, it’s a cheesecake.
Cheese cake is not always a cheesecake
If you think that a recipe with quite a bit of ricotta, cream cheese or mascarpone in the ingredients list will invariably produce a cheesecake, you’re wrong. A cheesecake is a dessert in which soft cheese constitutes the bulk of the batter, with the addition of (usually many) eggs and minimal amounts of flour. Be it baked or chilled, burnt Basque, New York or Japanese chiffon, it’s smooth and dense, distinctly different to a cake that just happens to contain some soft cheese.
So if you’re not a fan of cheesecakes and worry that this recipe is for a product tasting like one, fear not. It tastes like a delicious, tender, ‘cakey’ cake.
Upside down cakes
Disclaimer first: this does not have to be an upside down cake. You can use this excellent recipe to mix the batter, skip the fruit, pour it into an ordinary cake tin and bake right side up.
But the recipe (from Breadtopia, ignoring their intensely fancy and hard-to-find flours) suggests using a Pyrex dish and lining its bottom with fruit slices – which sounds like fun, so why not? And the good thing about upside down cakes is the fruit is cooked at the bottom of a pan so no sinkage issues there. The bad thing about them is that the bottom-to-top fruit usually turns out messy and not awfully visually attractive. But who cares if it tastes gorgeous?
What fruit?
The fruit can be anything you like, preferably seasonal, and so this one, baked mid-strawberry season, features strawberry slices.
The source recipe has mango. Slices of apples, pears, peaches, halves of cherries or scattered blueberries will work just as well.
What dish or tin?
The best dish to bake the cake in is transparent, Pyrex or similar, about 20 to 23 cm (8 – 9 inch) in diameter. If you have a smaller and deeper one, the baking time will be a little longer. A transparent dish will let you (very carefully) peek underneath to check if the bottom is browned nicely. Otherwise, even if the top is deeply browned and crusty, getting the cake out might be a real mission.
A springform cake tin might be easier to remove, first the sides then the top by sliding a palette knife in, but you won’t know if the cake bottom is baked properly or a hot mess.
Whatever the container though, the bottom needs to be thoroughly and thickly buttered and sprinkled with sugar, in order to release the fruit after baking.
Wholemeal cakes
In spite of the fact that so called and popular in many countries ‘cake flour’ is fine white wheat, it’s by no means the only type of flour cake bakers and pâtissiers can use. Buckwheat flour is great not only in galettes, and just think how many different bakes can be made with almond flour or ground walnuts. Oatmeal and cornmeal are excellent in baking too – just ask anyone who is gluten intolerant.
This is still wheat, but an upgrade for gut health and fibre content: fine wholemeal flour. You will also be quite impressed what a wonderful texture it creates in the cake.
If you can’t buy fine but only coarse, wholemeal bread flour, you can sift it to take off some of the roughest bran. Don’t throw it away though but save to add to your breakfast cereal.
How to make the cake batter
And finally, the how-to and it is very easy indeed. The dry ingredients go in one bowl, the liquid ones, including ricotta, whisked in another. Then fold them together to combine, spoon over the prepared fruit and the job is done.
It will bake for 35 to 50 minutes depending on the size and depth of the tin/dish. A skewer test will indicate that it’s baked through, and if you can see the underside nicely browned, it should reassure you further.
With the soft fruit the cake will not keep too long: up to a couple of days in the fridge.
More upside down cake recipes
Upside-down cherry cake with fresh cherries and buttery sponge, baked in a tart or flan case. That way the ratio of fruit to batter is more balanced!
Blueberry upside down cake with polenta: you can make an upside down cake with any fruit as even the delicate blueberries work well. This blueberry Tatin is easy to make and truly delicious.
Apricot upside down cake, an easy butter cake with fresh apricots and almond flakes. What bakes upside down, never sinks when turned back up!
More dairy-rich cake batter recipes
Fresh strawberry Bundt cake with yoghurt batter and mashed strawberry icing is as delicious as it is pretty. The cake batter might curdle but feel free to completely ignore it: the outcome will be successful all the same.
Crème fraiche pound cake flavoured with vanilla, baked in two mini loaf tins. Simply adorable – with crème fraiche icing too.
Mascarpone blueberry cake, rich and velvety with a tangy flavour from the blueberries. Adding mascarpone to the cake mix makes it rich, moist and tender and no, it doesn't taste like a cheesecake!