Baking Mad Monday: Sicilian Lemon Thyme Cake

Happy Monday! I had an amazing time on the weekend at the BBC Good Food Bakes & Cakes Show!
For today's recipe, I've teamed up again with my friends from http://www.bakingmad.com for bring you a Sicilian Lemon Thyme Cake.

Ingredients:

175g unsalted butter, softened
175g golden caster sugar
grated zest of 4 lemons and juice of 3
3 eggs, separated
250g ricotta cheese
100g self-raising flour, sifted
25gr ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp of chopped lemon thyme

Method:

Cream the butter and sugar together in an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, then beat in the lightly beaten egg yolks and add gradually, beating well after each addition.

Drain off any liquid that is in the ricotta and stir the cheese into the batter. Put the egg whites in a separate bowl and beat until they form medium peaks.

Stir the lemon juice, chopped thyme and zest into the batter then fold in the flour, almonds and baking powder. Add 2 big tbsp of the beaten whites to loosen the batter, then fold in the rest.

Scrape into a buttered 20cm spring-form cake tin. Place in an oven preheated to 180°C and bake for 45 to 50 minutes. A skewer inserted into the middle should come out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin, place in the fridge to set for at least 1H.

For decoration :

Confit some lemon slices in a thick syrup (150gr caster sugar+150ml water) for 15mn on a slow heat .

Decorate the top of the cake with the slices few lemon thyme and a drizzle of white chocolate and mix with virgin olive oil.

Enjoy!

E x