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A cross between the BEST cheesecake and your favorite buttery vanilla cake (with an added crisp, crunchy sugar exterior), this Sugar-Glazed Ricotta Bundt Cake is FABULOUSLY DELICIOUS! Add the fact that it's ridiculously easy to make, with just one bowl and no mixer and you've got a tried and true winner!
"Wow!" That's what Scott and I said when we took the first bite of this Sugar-Glazed Ricotta Bundt Cake. And every bite after that elicited the same response - from everyone who's tried it! With a moist, yet tender crumb, lots of buttery vanilla flavor and a fabulously crisp, crunchy crust, it's definitely an unforgettable "WOW" cake!
Ricotta, a star ingredient, not just for lasagna!
As the name suggests there's ricotta cheese in this recipe along with buttermilk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, baking powder, salt and all-purpose flour. To me, ricotta cheese (although often used in savory recipes like lasagna, manicotti and involtini) is a magical ingredient for cakes and baked goods. Ricotta is creamy and mildly sweet and it adds a fluffy, moist texture to this Sugar-Glazed Ricotta Bundt Cake.
As I mentioned in the introduction, this cake tastes like a combination of a really good vanilla cake and a fabulous cheesecake - it's sweet, buttery, tender, yet cheesecakey moist and slightly dense, all at the same time! The crisp, sugar-glazed crust? Well, it's just the crème de la crème!
Sugar-Glazed
Yes, one of the outstanding things about this Sugar-Glazed Ricotta Bundt Cake is the sweet, crisp, crunchy exterior that pairs so deliciously with the buttery, moist interior! How do you get a "sweet, crisp, crunchy exterior"?
So easy! Actually ridiculously easy!
Here's how it works. To prep the pan for baking, spray it with baking spray, a non-stick spray that combines shortening and flour, kind of like the classic method of greasing a pan with shortening and then dusting with flour. After all the cracks and crevices of the bundt pan are nicely coated with baking spray, simply dust the pan with a coat of sugar. I like to use cane sugar, which is a little coarser than granulated sugar, but either will work.
When the cake emerges from the pan after its stint in the oven, voila! A crisp, sweet, golden exterior that gives a little delicious "crunch" with every bite!
Ridiculously Easy
And speaking of ridiculously easy, if you've been following The Café for any length of time, you know all about our Ridiculously Easy recipes so you might want to just skip ahead. But for our newer readers, we have a whole collection of recipes that we call Ridiculously Easy. You can read in detail about these recipes in this post but my condensed explanation is that they are the recipes that "make you look like a kitchen rock star with minimal effort on your part".
This Sugar-Glazed Ricotta Bundt Cake definitely falls into that coveted collection!
I hope I've convinced you that this Sugar-Glazed Ricotta Bundt Cake is most definitely worth making. It won't require much hands-on time and it will, without exception, elicit lots of "WOWS"! Try it! You'll understand just what I'm talking about!
Café Tips for making this Sugar-Glazed Ricotta Bundt Cake
- This recipe calls for ricotta cheese. You can find ricotta in the dairy aisle, usually right near the cottage cheese. It usually comes in two varieties, skim and whole milk. I prefer whole milk ricotta cheese for this Sugar-Glazed Ricotta Bundt Cake. After all, if you're going to enjoy cake, go for the gold (and perhaps just have a smaller piece) but if you're really into counting calories, the skim variety will also work for this Sugar-Glazed Ricotta Bundt Cake.
- I like to use cane sugar for dusting the cake pan as it's slightly coarser than regular granulated sugar and it gives a little extra crunch. You can find cane sugar in the same section as granulated sugar at the grocery store. It's also nice for cookies that are rolled in sugar before baking. This cake will also work fine with regular granulated sugar if you don't have cane sugar and will still have a crunchy exterior.
- If you don't have baking spray, grease your pan well with shortening then proceed as directed to sprinkle with sugar. You can also use butter, but it will produce a deeper gold crust.
- A lot of readers have asked, what type of butter I use for baking recipes. Contrary to popular opinion and classic baking advice, I always use salted butter in my cooking and baking. I just think it's tastier for enjoying on its own and I don't like having to stock two different types of butter. I've always preferred salted butter to unsalted and thought for a long time that I was a lone ranger in the baking world. But a while back I read an article by Christopher Kimball, the legendary founder of Cook's Illustrated and, more recently, Milk Street. I thought he explained it well when a reader asked why he always used salted butter:
"We are different from what you will usually hear from other cooking professionals. Here at Milk Street, we experimented with using both salted and unsalted butter in both savory and baking recipes. The overall opinion was that the small amount of salt in the butter was undetectable in the recipes. Since salted butter has the advantage of extending the butter's shelf life, it also makes it a good choice for home cooks who may not use butter all that often. Even though conventional wisdom is to use unsalted we have decided it really doesn’t make a difference."
- All that to say, if you tend to purchase unsalted butter, it will be fine. You may need to just add a little pinch of extra salt.
- Some readers have asked how I measure flour. There are several different techniques, so I thought that I'd take a minute to discuss this. Years ago (like 100 years ago, when I was learning to cook) the universal method was to scoop up the flour, tap the cup a bit (to remove any air pockets) and then level the surface with a knife. In later years, the "correct" method changed to scooping up the flour with a separate scoop, filling the measuring cup with flour to overflowing and then leveling the surface with a knife. The reason for this change in techniques was so the flour wouldn't be so compacted and result in extra flour (which could, in turn, result in inferior baked goods). Personally, I use a combination of the two methods. I use a fork or a whisk to stir and "lighten up" my flour before scooping and leveling. I find this is easier but gives similar results to the double scooping and leveling technique.
- Be sure to let the cake cool for 10 minutes before inverting. This short cooling time gives the cake time to "set" a bit so it won't collapse or fall apart when removed from the pan.
- This recipe calls for a 10-12 cup bundt pan. I love to use this Nordic Ware Bundt Pan (pictured in the post) for this Sugar-Glazed Ricotta Bundt Cake but there are lots of options. You could also make it in a 9x5-inch loaf pan. Actually, there are lots of amazing pans you could use for this cake. I love Nordic Ware Bundt pans. This is not a sponsored post, but they're such great quality and seem to last forever (despite lots of use like they get here at The Café). I just ordered this beautiful Nordic Ware Bundt Pan for myself (I'm sure you'll see it in future posts). There are so many options to choose from with these Nordic Ware pans. If your Bundt pan has a larger capacity than 10 cups, be aware that the finished product will be lower and smaller than the cake pictured in this post.
- I absolutely love to decorate cakes with fresh edible flours. Although we don't generally eat the flowers, I like to use blossoms that aren't harmful since they will be touching the cake. I used lavender and rosemary for this Sugar-Glazed Ricotta Bundt Cake. You can find more about decorating with fresh herbs and flowers along with a list of common edible flowers in this post.
Thought for the day:
Let us then with confidence
draw near to the throne of grace,
that we may receive mercy
and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:16
What we're listening to for inspiration:
I Need Thee Every Hour
If you enjoy this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review! It’s so helpful to other readers to hear your results, adaptations and ideas for variations.
A cross between the BEST cheesecake and your favorite buttery vanilla cake (with an added crisp, crunchy sugar exterior), this Sugar-Glazed Ricotta Bundt Cake is FABULOUSLY DELICIOUS! Add the fact that it's ridiculously easy to make, with just one bowl and no mixer, and you've got a tried and true winner!
- ¼ cup cane sugar or granulated sugar see Café Tips
- ½ cup butter (I used salted)
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup whole-milk ricotta cheese
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1½ cups granulated sugar
- 2½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ cups all purpose-flour
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Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spray a 10-12 cup Bundt pan generously with baking spray, making sure to cover all of the cracks and crevices including the inside of the center core. If there is spray pooling at the bottom of the pan, wipe out any excess with a piece of paper toweling. NOTE - This is not a big cake and if you use a 12-cup capacity Bundt pan, the finished cake will low.
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Sprinkle a quarter cup of sugar onto the greased surfaces and tip and tilt the pan to coat everything with the sugar (I like to do this over the kitchen sink.) Discard any excess sugar left in the pan.
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In a microwave-safe measuring cup or bowl., melt the butter in the microwave. Add the olive oil, vanilla and almond extracts. Set aside.
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In a medium-size bowl, whisk together the eggs, ricotta, and buttermilk until well combined.
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Add the sugar and whisk again, then add the butter/oil mixture and whisk until well combined.
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Sprinkle the baking powder and salt over the top of the batter and stir to incorporate.
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Lastly, fold in the flour and stir just until the batter is smooth and lump-free.
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Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula or the back of a spoon, making sure it goes into all the little Bundt pan grooves.
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Bake until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 40–50 minutes. The best way to tell if a cake is done is to use an instant thermometer. The temperature in the middle of the cake should read 200-205˚F.
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Transfer the cake to a cooling rack and allow it to cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then check the edges of the cake. If you see any areas that seem to be adhering to the pan, use a small, thin-bladed knife to gently loosen these areas.
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Carefully invert the cake onto the cooling rack, giving it a little shake to release it. Lift the pan and sprinkle the top of the cake with a little extra sugar, if desired. Allow the cake to cool for an hour before slicing. ENJOY and wait for the WOWS!
See Café Tips above in the post for more detailed instructions and tips to ensure success.
If you prefer to use Metric measurements there is a button in each of our recipes, right above the word “Instructions”. Just click that button to toggle to grams, milliliters, etc. If you ever come across one of our recipes that doesn’t have the Metric conversion (some of the older recipes may not), feel free to leave a comment and I will add it.
Adapted from Epicurious. https://www.epicurious.com
Betsy says
Hi Chris,
The first time I made this cake, it only rose about half way up the pan. I assumed my baking powder was outdated. So I was anxious to make it again because it was delicious and a big hit with my guests. The same thing happened! I followed the recipe exactly. I am just baffled.
Thanks, Betsy
I served it with strawberries and whipped cream, so we all had a laugh about the strawberry SHORTCAKE
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Betsy, I'm sorry you've had trouble with this cake. Trying to troubleshoot, I'm wondering if it has to do with the size of your bundt pan. There are two basic sizes, one is a 12-cup capacity the other has an 8-10-cup capacity. If you use the larger size, this cake will only fill about half of it.
I realized with your question, that I did not clarify this in the recipe so I have added that. I appreciate you pointing this out!
Hope that helps!
Betsy Benz says
Thanks Chris, but it was not the pan.
I wish I could figure it out.
Betsy
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Betsy, It's really hard to say but, if the texture and flavor were good, it might just be that you need more batter. This is not a huge cake as it only calls for 1½ cups of flour. You might want to increase the recipe by another ⅓ or ½ or even double the recipe (if you have a large (12-cup) Bundt pan to create a taller, larger cake.
Betsy Benz says
Chris, Do you have any other ideas as to why my cake did not rise? It was not the pan
Thanks, Betsy
Betsy says
Hi Chris,
Do you think I could sub mascarpone for the ricotta? We are snowbound today and I think cake would be a nice treat!
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Betsy, I haven't tested the recipe with mascarpone but I would think it would work!
Mary Dobron says
May I use Turbinado sugar as a coating for the cake?
Chris Scheuer says
I love Turbinado sugar but don't think that it would coat the pan as well as regular sugar or cane sugar.
Basia says
Well... I really loved the flavor. My husband thought it was too "eggy" like French toast, which is true. But that's what I loved. My problem was getting it put of the pan, which it did not release well. I have a Nordic pan that has a white coating for easy release. I've never ever had a problem. Half didn't drop. I am going to try it one more time and try my typical shortening and flour rather than baking spray. So that's why I gave the 4 stars.
Chris Scheuer says
I'm sorry you had trouble with this cake, Basia. Hopefully, your method will work better for you.
Amber says
Already made this cake and everyone loved it!
One question though....the sugar quantity...do you subtract from the over all sugar (1/4 cup) you put on the baking spray from the 1 1/2 cup you put in the cake mix? or is there a total need for 1 3/4 cups?
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Amber, you use 1/4 cup for the pan and then another 1 1/2 cups for the cake. It's listed "for the prep" in the ingredient list. So the total amount needed is 1 3/4 cups.
Carol says
Hi, cake is beautiful! I have the same pan and love it.It is easy to cut slices to share.It is very warm and I guess that I will be refrigerating it. Will the crispy sugar coating remain crispy, or will it be absorbed by the cake? I used vanilla paste as I love the look of vanilla bean in my bakes.
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Carol, if you refrigerate the cake the outside probably will not stay crisp but it will still be delicious!
Ann says
I made this cake over the weekend and it turned out exactly like the picture. It was delicious. Light and moist. I even purchased cane sugar to coat the pan and will be using this going forward in place of the decorating sugar I have. Than you for another great recipe.
Chris Scheuer says
Awesome! Thanks for letting us know, Anne!
Ellen Leach says
I made this exactly as as stated in recipe and it came out perfectly looking just like the photo. I didn't use baking spray becasue those sprays ended up ruining my pans and casserole dishes with a baked on gunk that I could never get rid of so instead I greasted liberally with Crisco and swirled regular sugar around to coat. Had little difficulty getting it out of the pan, was partly stuck on the bottom. I used a very pliable plastic spatula and nudged it out. It is a dense cake and my husband loves it. I'found it left an olive oil after-taste so just gave it 4 stars for that.
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Ellen, thanks for sharing your review. The cake is supposed to have a little olive oil flavor but you could use all butter if your prefer that.
Christina Bagdazian says
Hi Chris- I made your Ricotta Bundt in 2 - 6” Bundt pans- one for us and one to give away. I made as directed except I increased vanilla and added a couple of other butter flavored extracts from the baking store. They turned out beautifully and I would recommend this recipe highly. Thank you, once again, for a great recipe.
Chris Scheuer says
Thanks, Christina! So glad. you enjoyed it 🙂
mary says
this cake is so tasty and moist. The only issue I had is that I was unable to to get it out of the bundt pan! Made this twice, once with sugar and one just oiled and both times it would not release. The first time I've ever had issues with my pan. I was able to serve it as a tart, everyone enjoyed the flavor and texture.
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Mary, So sorry you had trouble with this. There's nothing more disappointing than a cake sticking in the pan 🙁. Just checking, did you use baking spray or non-stick oil spray? Baking spray is a combination of flour and shortening which helps immensely to allow cakes to release. With a Bundt pan, it needs to be used very generously.
Again, sorry you had difficulty with this!
Jeanne says
This is my new favorite cake! The crumb is very moist and tender and it is just plain delicious. The fact that it is easy is an added plus. My pan was a bit too big so the cake is not as tall as the picture so I plan to try another type of pan next time.
Chris Scheuer says
Thank you for letting us know, Jeanne! So glad you enjoyed this 🙂
MBR says
I have the pans that create “individual “ Bundt cakes. Will this recipe work in those?
Chris Scheuer says
Absolutely!
Betty says
Does it require refrigeration?
Does it freeze well?
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Betty, if you're storing it overnight, it's fine without refrigeration but any longer, I would refrigerate it. Yes, it does freeze well!
sarina kinney says
Hi, This recipie looks wonderful and I want to make the cake but am wondering how is it stored? Does it need refrigeration? This is a large cake for us. I will want to feeze some, I think. Does it freeze well?
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Sarina, if you're storing it overnight, it's fine without refrigeration but any longer, I would refrigerate it. Yes, it does freeze well!
Sue says
I really like your blog, been following for years. I’m not against incentivizing it but 6 toenail fungus ads in one post is not very appetizing. Gross.😝
Chris Scheuer says
Thanks, Sue - I agree! I will check that out and talk with our ad agency!
Jamie says
I am wondering if you think this cake would make a good base for a strawberry short cake kind of treat, and if it freezes well? If not, which of your cakes would you suggest? Thank you
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Jamie,
Yes, I served this cake with both strawberries and strawberry coulis and it was wonderful!