Easy Blueberry Ricotta Cake with lemon glaze is perfect served as a coffee or breakfast cake. Ricotta cake is a delicately sweet and elegant dessert with a clafoutis-like texture.
We love blueberry desserts like our popular Blueberry Lemon Cake, epic Blueberry Pie, or loaded Blueberry Crumble. This blueberry ricotta cake does not disappoint.
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Blueberry Ricotta Cake Recipe:
I was tempted to call this a cheesecake but the texture isn’t what you would expect from cheesecake. Ricotta cake is a cross between a clafoutis, custard, soufflé and cheesecake. You’ll have to try it for yourself, then report back and share your thoughts. This blueberry lemon ricotta cake is a delight and I particularly good served slightly warm, dripping with lemon glaze.
What is Ricotta Cheese?
Ricotta cheese is made from whey leftover from making other cheeses. It is inexpensive and available in the refrigerated cheese aisle of most grocery stores, or you can make homemade ricotta. It is smooth and slightly grainy in texture. Ricotta is a versatile cheese and works well in sweet desserts like this ricotta cake and in savory dishes like Classic Lasagna.
Can I substitute with Cottage Cheese?
The flavor profile of cottage cheese is similar to ricotta but the texture is different as even “small curd” cottage cheese has significantly larger curd than ricotta cheese. If you must substitute, drain and mash the cottage cheese first.
How to Make Ricotta Cake:
This cake is simple to assemble and your oven does the rest.
- Pre-heat the oven, grease and line a 9″ springform pan and whisk together dry ingredients.
- Beat eggs and sugar until frothy
- Blend in melted butter, ricotta, sour cream, vanilla and lemon zest.
- Add flour mixture, mixing until combined then transfer to pan, top with blueberries and bake
It will poof up slightly in the center like a typical cheesecake and relax down slightly as it cools. Once it’s out of the oven, let it rest in the pan for 20 minutes then transfer to a cake platter and serve warm with lemon glaze.
How to Make Lemon Glaze:
It really doesn’t get any easier and all you need for a good lemon glaze are 2 ingredients: (1) FRESH lemon juice and (2) powdered sugar. Stir to combine and add more lemon juice for a thinner glaze or add more powdered sugar for a thicker glaze. Lemon glaze adds a fresh pop of lemon flavor to many fruit-based cakes or these Blueberry Muffins.
Storing Ricotta Cake:
You can keep the cake at room temperature for a day after it is made, but I would cover and refrigerate overnight for longer storage.
More Breakfast Cake Recipes:
These breakfast cakes all have 2 things in common: easy and delicious! They come together fast and are wonderful for unexpected (or expected) company.
- Easy Strawberry Cake drizzled with irresistible strawberry sauce
- Berry Crumb Cake with buttery crumb topping
- Easy Almond Cake (naturally gluten free!)
- Apple Cake – a classic “sharlotka” cake
- Fresh Peach Cake – with the softest crumb
- Apple Dapple Cake – glazed apple coffee cake
This Ricotta Cake was inspired by the Blueberry Breakfast Cake from King Arthur Flour.
Blueberry Ricotta Cake
Ingredients
For the Blueberry Ricotta Cake:
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 8 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted (not hot)
- 15 oz ricotta cheese, (about 2 cups)
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 Tbsp lemon zest, from 1 large lemon
- 8 oz blueberries, (1 1/2 cups) rinsed and dried
For the Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
Instructions
How to Make Ricotta Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350˚F. Grease a 9” springform pan and line the bottom with a ring of parchment. Whisk together flour, salt and baking powder and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together eggs and sugar on high speed for 2 minutes until frothy.
- Blend in melted butter until smooth. Add 15 oz ricotta, 1/4 cup sour cream, 1 tsp vanilla extract and 1 Tbsp lemon zest and beat on medium speed for 1 minute or just until blended.
- Add flour mixture and beat on low speed just until incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pan and sprinkle 1 1/2 cups blueberries evenly over the top.
- Bake in the center of oven at 350˚F for 60-65 min or until edges are lightly browned and cake appears set. It will still have a slight jiggle in the center. Remove from oven and cool 20 minutes in the pan then transfer to a cake platter. Once cake is on the cake platter, you should be able to easily slide out the parchment from under the cake.
How to Make Lemon Glaze:
- In a small bowl or measuring cup, stir together powdered sugar and lemon juice, adding more juice or powdered sugar to thin or thicken the glaze to desired consistency. Drizzle over warm cake and serve.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Hi Natasha, I love this recipe, but I was wondering if there was a way to replace the blueberry for some kind of chocolate?. I would appreciate any ideas you may possibly have.
Thank you!
Hi Vanessa, I haven’t tested this with chocolate, but I imagine that should work.
Can this recipe be made in a cupcake pan?
Hi Ritu, I haven’t tested that so I won’t be able to provide specific instructions on making it in a cupcake or muffin pan
Hi, Natasha!
I’ve made this wonderful cake a few times – it’s fantastic. =)
Do you think I can double it and bake in a 9 x 13 pan? If yes, how long would you think it will take to cook? 80min?
Thank you for your recipes,
Longtime fan, =)
Marina
Hi Marina, that should work although I haven’t tested that to advise. I don’t think you will need to double your bake time but you may need to increase it by some.
Hi, I was wondering if you knew of any good egg substitutions for the desserts you have recipes on? My mom can’t eat eggs and I’d really like to make something that my entire family is able to eat.
Hi Mansi, it would depend on the dessert you are making. I would google “egg substitute” there are several options out there. Have you tried our egg-free Chocolate cake?
I made the blueberry ricotta cake. The blueberries sunk to the bottom. It tasted good but the presentation wasn’t good. What did I do wrong?
Hi Barbara, I haven’t had that happen but I’m more than happy to troubleshoot, was anything altered in the recipe? I would put that pan into the oven right after the mixture is poured and not letting it sit out before baking causing them to sink.
Thank you for replying so quickly. The only change was the size of the pan. My pan was a ten inch. After filling the pan, I put it in the oven immediately. After washing the blueberries, I let them drain in a colander but perhaps I should have dried them totally with a paper towel.
Natasha, thanks for replying. The only thing I changed was the size of the pan. I used a ten inch. I washed the blueberries and drained them in a colander. Perhaps I should have dried them with a paper towel. That’s the only thing I can think of.
I made this cake too and the blueberrys were on the bottom of the cake too.I found the cake pan was not tight and that allowed the blueberrys to fall! Juice was all over! But still the cake turned out pretty good!
If you coat the blueberries lightly with flour before mixing them in, they should not sink.
Hi Sweet Natasha: What can I substitute for the sour cream? I am lactose intolerant and need an alternative. I did luck out and was able to find lactose free ricotta and I use clarified butter. at 62 it’s the pits giving up things I love. Can’t wait to try this recipe. God bless you!
Hi Linda, I haven’t tried anything that is lactose-free for this cake.
My son was lactose intolerant and I would make him yogurt which he could tolerate. Maybe, try Fage greek yogurt with 5 percent milk fat.
Hi Natasha,
Can you substitute mascarpone instead of ricotta cheese?
Love your recipes!
Holly
Hi Holly, I haven’t tested that but one of our readers tried it and enjoyed that!
I made this for family recently and everyone loved it. So simple to make, delicious, and beautiful to present. Thank you for this recipe.
You’re welcome, Nancy! Thank you for this wonderful review!
Nancy, is it like a cheesecake?
Hi Natasha,
I have made this cake a few times for my family and we really enjoy it.
I live in the Caribbean so blueberries are expensive at times. So I use frozen blue berries. I let them thaw a bit whilst I prepare the cake and it bakes perfectly.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us!
Hi Natasha,
I am going to make this cake and was wondering if I substitute half of regular flour with almond flour or whole-wheat pastry flour would it work or not? Thank you
Hi Marina, I honestly have not tested this gluten-free so I cannot advise. If you experiment I would love to know how you like that!
This cake was AMAZING! I’m no baker so I was worried I would somehow mess it up but the recipe was so easy to follow and turned out delicious. Highly recommend for any event, all my friends loved it!
Super! Thanks for your great comments and feedback. We’re so happy to hear that you loved this cake, Anna.
Delicious, I made gluten and sugar free and the kids tried eating the whole thing. Next I’ll make with peaches, hope it comes out as well as with blueberries.
I’m so happy to hear that you and your kids loved it!
Hi Natasha. I followed the recipe completely and it turned out delicious. Do you reheat leftovers? It’s still pretty good out of the fridge, the texture is just different.
Yes you may also reheat the leftovers but you can also eat it cold, it just depends on your preference.
Delicious! I halved the recipe and made it via the pot-within-the-pot method in my 8 instant pot. I think it probably was a bit denser than the original recipe because I made it in the pressure cook setting, but it was still really tasty. I will try it again under the bake setting with the air fryer lid next time.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me! Our readers will find this helpful!
This cake was delicious!! I would like to try it again. But my blueberries turned out on the bottom of the cake. Any reasons why that would happen?
Hi Suzi! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe! I haven’t had that happen but I’m more than happy to troubleshoot, was anything altered in the recipe?
This cake turned out so well! Thanks so much for the recipe. The only thing I did differently was I didn’t bake it as long. It took about 55 minutes in my oven and the sides were starting to get a little dark. It’s not too sweet and I actually like it better than cheesecake. Definitely one of our favorites!
Isn’t this cake amazing! It makes the home smell so good too! Thank you for your wonderful feedback Carissa!
I have been baking for years and this recipe did not work, I have no Idea what went wrong or was wrong but it was not a fluffy cake flattened.
Hi Denise, I’d be happy to troubleshoot! By chance was anything altered or replaced in this recipe?
No I followed it to the T, I do have a electric stove if that would be a issue?
Hi Denise, that may be the culprit!
I would like to make this cake ahead of time and freeze it. Will that work OK?
Hi Alice, I honestly haven’t tried freezing it, so I’m not sure.
This is a lovely cake. cannot stop eating it. Was concerned about the texture but taste so good. Will surely make again
Wow. This was an incredible cake. Couldn’t stop eating it. I had frozen wild blueberries. You didn’t mention if frozen berries should be thawed and drained. I thought it might add to much liquid and spoil the cake results. I thawed and dried them. Turned out amazing. Thanks for the wonderful recipe!!!
Thank you for sharing that great feedback with us! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe!
I also used frozen blueberries, was concerned about the slight drop but was delish