Raspberry and Ricotta Cakes

 
As mentioned previously, I am hosting this weeks edition of Magazine Mondays for Cream Puffs in Venice.  I made Raspberry and Ricotta cakes from the October 2010 edition of the New Zealand recipes+ magazine.  They look so summery and inviting, especially with the raspberry syrup drizzled over the top of them.  Yum!  They were the perfect accompaniment to my stay with Simon at my family’s beach place, up North at Ruakaka.  Aside from baking I also managed to go swimming for the first time this summer :)

One little note about the cakes though; mine don’t look like the picture in the magazine.  They are supposed to be little loaf-like cakes, but I didn’t have a mini loaf pan up at my beach house.  Simon and I couldn’t find any on our trip to Whangarei either, so I made do with a texan muffin tin.  Anyways, here is the recipe:

 
Makes: 4          Preparation: 15 minutes          Cooking: 20 minutes

1 ⅓ cups self raising flour
⅓ cup firmly packed brown sugar
½ cup buttermilk
1 egg
30g unsalted butter, melted, cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
80g fresh ricotta
80g frozen raspberries, plus 220g extra
2 tablespoons icing sugar
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice
Whipped cream to serve

Preheat oven to 180˚C.  Grease 4 holes of a ⅔ cup mini loaf pan with butter.  Sift flour into a medium bowl.  Add the brown sugar and stir to combine.

Whisk buttermilk, egg, butter and vanilla together in a large jug.  Stir buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture.  Add ricotta and 80g of raspberries and stir until just combined.  Spoon mixture into the prepared loaf pans.  bake for 20 minutes or until golden.  Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack.

Place the extra berries in a small saucepan over a low heat.  Add icing sugar and juice and stir until the sugar has dissolved.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  Serve cakes with berry sauce and whipped cream.

Check out what other people have made this week:

• Heather from girlichef made Turkey Tetrazzini from Saveur Magazine.
• Tia from Buttercream Barbie made Buttercake Bakery’s Chocolate Vanilla Swirl Bundt Cake from the L.A. Times in June 2008.
• Sue from Couscous & Consciousness made Pork Chops with Saffron Baked Potatoes from the November 2007 issue of Delicious magazine.
• Tina from Life in the slow lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Noodle Casserole from Family Circle magazine.
• Lynn from I’ll Have What She’s Having made Pear and Cranberry Hand Pies from the December 2010 issue of Food & Wine magazine.
• Mary from Caramels, Bonbons et Chocolats made Crisp maple shortbread cookies from the latest issue of Chantelaine.