Lemon and Ricotta Mini-Bundt Cakes

These cakes are a celebration of citrus fruits in season, a tangy theme running through my sweets baking this Winter. 

Fill these little lovelies with lemon or lime curd, dust with some sifted icing sugar, garnish with a slice of dehydrated cumquat, (optional of course) and sit back and enjoy with fresh cream or yoghurt, depending on the time of day. Lemons and limes have been abundant this Winter, and quite interchangeable when cooking sweets.

Just mix all the cake batter ingredients in one bowl, and bake at 180 degrees, for 25 minutes. It's that simple. This mixture makes 20 mini bundt cakes, or a large cake (bundt that is). Or you can also make 12 mini bundt cakes and a loaf cake, which I have also done. Lightly coat your mini bundt pan with olive oil spray, fill the recess to 3/4 full and wait patiently for them to cook. If you are making a large cake it will take around 40 minutes.

The dehydrated cumquat slices adorning the cakes come from the Kumquatery, situated in Renmark, South Australia, the home of ubiquitous fruit plantations. Is cumquat spelled with a K or a C? I think it's a C, but the Kumquatery spells cumquats with a K, their prerogative I think, anyway it's a nice product. These are fresh, sliced, raw Nagami Kumquat fruits which were grown on their Renmark farm, and have been dehydrated. A unique Australian product. Our travelling friends, Paul and Jenny, brought us back a packet of these "dried kumquats" after driving all the way from Mackay to South Australia in their campervan recently, quite a trek. Luckily they went and returned when they did, as unfortunately the state is now in lockdown because of Covid. Jam makers will also know that a very delicious marmalade is made from cumquats. 

At the end of this post, I am giving you my recipe for home made lemon or lime curd, made very quickly in the microwave which is what I spooned into the lemon cakes. For the whole story on making your own curd, with photos, you can find it at this link

Let's cook:

Ingredients:

5 eggs

300 g castor sugar

100 ml light olive oil

1 x 375 g Ricotta cheese

Lemon zest from 2 lemons

Juice from 1 lemon

300 g Self Raising Flour

Method:

Whisk the eggs and olive oil together.

Mix in the Ricotta cheese, and castor sugar.

Add the lemon juice and lemon zest. (or lime juice and zest.)

Add the Self Raising Flour and mix in well.

Just out of the oven, base side up.

If you wish to ice your cakes instead of filling with curd, which sounds great to me, make a runny icing from icing sugar and lime or lemon juice and let it dribble down the side of the cake.

1 dozen lemon and ricotta mini bundt cakes

12 cup Mini bundt pan

A loaf cake made from the same recipe, waiting to be iced with lemon icing

This cake recipe is adapted from an original Italian recipe posted by Gordana Holden.

How to make Home made Lemon Curd in the microwave, a precious product

Makes 2 1/2 small jars

Ingredients:

150 g lemon juice (juice from about 4 bush lemons, maybe 5 of other varieties)
50 g unsalted butter
3 large eggs plus one egg yolk
150 g caster sugar
zest of four lemons

Method:

In a bowl, whisk the eggs and the yolk well. Leave to sit until needed.
Grate the lemon zest finely from the lemons onto a board.

Mix the lemon juice and zest, caster sugar, and butter in a large microwave bowl. I used a pyrex one. Microwave on high for 2 minutes, remove and then stir until combined and all butter is melted.

Strain the eggs through a sieve into the hot juice bowl, continuously whisking as you do this. Yes, you can do this with a little coordination.

Microwave your hot juice bowl for another 30 seconds, remove and whisk quickly, microwave for another 30 seconds, whisk, and then microwave for one minute and whisk. I repeated this process twice more for 30 seconds each time, and then it thickened beautifully. I placed a small amount on a small plate to test it and of course had a taste. Yum! How long you need to microwave it will depend on the power of your microwave.

A final whisk and I ladled it into 2 1/2 jars, let it cool and then placed it in the refrigerator. This curd is so delicious and perfect for eating with scones, filling bundt cakes, or straight from the spoon.

Thanks for dropping by.

Warm wishes

Pauline