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.
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
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
I am writing this as I eat a deliciously fresh and hot slice of blueberry cake. This is incredibly flavorful, creamy, and tangy-sweet. I love lemon and could have added more zest, but I only had two lemons at my disposal to zest.
I subbed a homemade AP gluten-free flour in place of the AP flour and it turned out perfectly “fall off the fork” tender. Tonight was a trial run to see if I will make this for a dinner party my family will be attending. This passed the trial!
One of the times that I make this in the future, I will try to leave out the blueberries and go light with the lemon, and “fill” the cake with Reese’s candy and drizzle with peanut butter for my husband’s pleasure. This really could be filled with anything, but the lemon blueberry will likely always be my fave!
Hello Ilona, I’m so happy to have read your great comments and feedback. Thank you so much for sharing that with us, I hope this recipe will become your family’s favorite.
Really good recipe. I usually use fresh blueberries. Can I use frozen blueberries?
Hi Kateryna, frozen blueberries should work fine but I would suggest baking an extra 5 minutes.
Thank you very much for an amazingly good cake recipe and detailed instructions. I had some ingredients leftover and decided to try this one. Very good, easy to make, light, moist, delicious on its own (no need for whipping cream or ice cream. It’s still good!) I used Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, and olive oil instead of butter (for health conscious so I can enjoy it every morning with a cup of coffee). The lemon glaze added was excellent, too.
That’s so great! Thank you for sharing this lovely review with me!
Can these recipes be made using an instant pot?
Hi Jane, I haven’t tested this in an instant pot, but here’s what one of my readers wrote ” 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” I hope this helps.
Hello! What other pan may i use besides springfoam pan?
Hi Anel, I saw in the comments that someone else shared this “I doubled the recipe because I had a 32 ounce container of ricotta to use up. I put it in a glass 10×15 pyrex pan, 325° for 50 minutes and it came out perfect. Tastes delicious.” I hope that helps.
I have friends who are gluten intolerant, is there a way to substitute gluten free flour in your recipes without ruining the taste?
Hi Linda, it depends on the recipe but I recommend checking the comments at the bottom of each recipe as others share how they are able to make the recipes gluten-free.
Hi Linda,
I was able to substitute with a homemade AP gluten-free flour based on rice flour. It turned out perfect! The taste was not affected to my knowledge. I think this cake would even be yummy with almond-based flour.
Hope you and your friends enjoy!
Blueberry ricotta cake
To die for. It was a huge success. It’s not sweet and
Very easy to make.
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review!
Can you please suggest Substitute of egg in the recipe with measurements.. TIA..
Hi Ashwini, I haven’t tried any other substitute for the egg to advise. If you do an experiment, please share with us how it goes.
Just made this for Easter Brunch and it was a big hit. I added an additional TBSP of lemon zest to the batter and an additional 2 tsp of lemon juice to the glaze and everyone loved it.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
i give YOU a 5 star rating, but i give ME a ZERO!…..so a month or so ago while shopping, i found ricotta on sale for .85 a cup! so i bought 6 of them! YAAA! i made some veggie lasagna, very good, and i saw this recipe! ok, so i took 2 of them out of the freezer….and today started whipping it up!….all went well, till i read and re-read the recipe (i have to do that a lot) and i dumped in both cups!….OOPS! so i went about doubling the recipe, scrambling for a pan, eggs, etc…so i have 2 of them in the oven. boy i hope they are good! i guess one will go to the neighbor, whos chickens provided the eggs…..lol, i am a nut case anymore!
I hope you love this cake Nora!!
Love all your recipes I made this dessert today just like all your other recipes we love them all just wanted to know do we have to refrigerate are left over cake
Hi Shirley, please see the section above on Storing Ricotta Cake.
Hi Natasha! I absolutely love your recipes, I currently have my cake in the oven! I was wondering if I should store it in the refrigerator or just leave out over night, for Easter tomorrow? Thank you so much!
Hi Kourtny, please see the section above for Storing the cake. I would refrigerate overnight. Happy Easter!
This is delicious! I omitted the glaze and used powdered sugar instead. Thanks for yet another perfect recipe!
You’re welcome, Carol! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Hi, could the blueberries be substituted for a different berry? If so, what would be the best one to try? I want to make it for Easter, but someone is allergic to blueberries.
Hi Kristina, you can try my Strawberry Cake Recipe instead.
The perfect Easter dessert 🙂
That’s nice, thank you!
I made this cake today for my daughter’s birthday cake. It came out amazing! I did substitute Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten Free baking flour and it looks and tastes great. I didn’t have any blueberries so I dusted it with confectionary sugar and chocolate shavings!! Definitely a 5 star!!!!!
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review!
So classic Russian zapekanka but with ricotta yes?
Absolutely fantastic ill be making this for my mothers 91st birthday!
That’s just awesome! Happy Birthday to your mother!
Excellent recipe, Natasha – thank you! I made it last night for a celebratory dessert, but I think I’ll be making this one again and again. Loved the texture and it was just the right amount of sweetness. Reminds me of cheesecake but much lighter (and in my opinion, better!)
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review!
Thank you sharing this recipe. I doubled the recipe because I had a 32 ounce container of ricotta to use up. I put it in a glass 10×15 pyrex pan, 325° for 50 minutes and it came out perfect. Tastes delicious.
I’m happy you enjoyed that Nancy!