Olive Oil Cake w/ Ricotta & Grape Coulis

This is a lovely, simple cake made better with ricotta cheese.

Smitten Kitchen makes a Concord grape coulis for the side. This cake definitely needs something, otherwise it is just very plain.

I did not have concord grapes, so used seedless red grapes.....not the same animal, but still was yummy.

I would stick w/ the concords if you can find them, or just roast up some grapes and serve them on the side!

Henry loved this one.

Olive Oil Ricotta Cake w/ Grape Coulis (adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook):

1 cup ricotta cheese
1/3 cup olive oil (I use a mild flavored brand, such as Colavita)
grated zest of a lemon
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Grape Coulis:

2 cups concord grapes
1/3 cups water
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and line the bottom with a round of parchment paper. Butter the parchment. In a large bowl, whisk ricotta, olive oil, lemon zest and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt directly over the wet ingredients, and mix with a spatula until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 30 minutes, or until the top and sides of the cake are golden, and a knife or tester inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs attached.

Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then unlatch the pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

My cake collapsed in the center a bit, but it was fine.

For the grape coulis:
Combine all ingredients in a heavy saucepan over medium high heat and simmer for about five minutes, until the grapes have burst and the sauce has just begun to thicken. You may want to mash the grapes a bit with a wooden spoon as they're simmering. Carefully pour the sauce through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds if you are using concord grapes.

Make sure your grape sauce is nice and chilled.

Spoon over cooled slices of cake and maybe some extra lemon zest.

Enjoy!