This pumpkin ricotta pound cake as the dessert for Thanksgiving fared better than the usual pumpkin pie. Thank goodness!
Year after year, I would find myself looking at an untouched pumpkin pie. My in-laws just don’t seem to fancy it and each year, I would stubbornly continue to make it hoping they would finally enjoy it. I am not complaining as my sister and I would usually devour the pie by ourselves but it’s a bit deflating to see pumpkin pie untouched.
However, this year, my sister wasn’t here in Rome for Thanksgiving so I decided I needed an alternative. When I saw the recipe for this pumpkin ricotta pound cake on Cooking With Nonna, I felt it would be a good compromise. I made some changes and the recipe below has been adapted from Cooking With Nonna
Pumpkin Ricotta Pound Cake Recipe
Ingredients – Makes 2 loaf pans
2 1/2 Cups of Cake Flour
5 Eggs
3/4 Cup Sugar
2 Sticks or 225 grams unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tsp Baking Powder
2 Tsp Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp Ground Nutmeg
1 Cup Canned Pumpkin
1/2 Cup Whole Milk Ricotta
Directions
1. In a medium bowl, add the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg) set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, cream together butter, ricotta and sugar. Add the pumpkin and mix for about 30 seconds or until well combined.
3. Add in eggs one at a time, scraping excess of sides of the bowl with a rubber scraper.
4. Mix in dry ingredients, scraping sides of the bowl with a rubber scraper. Mix until well combined or for another 30 seconds.
5. Pour batter into a buttered 10×5 loaf pan and smooth top with a small spatula. Tap the pan to get rid of air pockets.
6. Bake at 180C (350F) oven for 55-60 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
7. Allow cake to cool in pan for 15 minutes before removing it.
To Serve
You can either serve a slice of the pumpkin pound cake with whipped cream or in my case, creme anglaise. I used this recipe from Joy of Baking, one of my favorite sites, and the combination was a huge hit. The family almost finished a loaf and the other loaf, well, I had a slice everyday for breakfast. Yes guilty as charged but this pumpkin ricotta pound cake was so good!