Whole Wheat Blueberry Ricotta Cake

Source - http://thehungrydino.wordpress.com/2012/01/22/blueberry-ricotta-cake/

1 tbsp Country Crock Light buttery spread, melted but not hot

3 large eggs

3/4 cups sugar

1/3 cup olive oil

1/2 cup skim-milk ricotta

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup white whole wheat flour*

1/2 tbsp baking powder

1. Preheat the oven to 300. Grease 6in x 2in round cake pan with melted butter and line the bottom with parchment round.

2. Whip together eggs and sugar at medium-high speed until it is very thick and falls in heavy ribbons, about seven minutes.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together oil, ricotta, lemon juice, and vanilla. Add to mixer.

4. Mix together flours and baking powder. Add to the batter, scraping down the bowl as necessary. Be careful not to overmix.

5. Pour the batter into prepared pan and place on a rack in the center of the oven. Bake about 60 minutes, until cake is golden brown and a center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely, then remove from pan and wrap in plastic. Chill until ready to use.

*I would use whole wheat pastry flour and cut down to 2/3 cup next time, as the resulting cake was a little denser than it should have been.

Blueberry Puree

1 cup blueberries (frozen is fine – thaw as necessary)

2 tbsp sugar

1/2 tbsp lemon juice

1. Mix blueberries, sugar, and lemon juice in food processor.

2. Strain through fine-mesh sieve,

Blueberry Simple Syrup

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup sugar

3 tbsp blueberry puree

1. Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan over a medium-high heat. Bring to boil and stir until sugar is dissolved.

2. Remove from heat and stir in blueberry puree.

Blueberry Whipped Cream

3/4 cup heavy cream

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup blueberry puree

1. Mix cream and sugar to form stiff peaks. Using a rubber spatula, fold blueberry puree into whipped cream until combined.

Assembly

1. Preheat oven to 300.

2. If cake is frozen, allow to thaw. Cut off top 1/4″ cake with long serrated knife to even top as necessary. Slice the remaining cake into two equal layers.

3. Using a pastry brush, moisten the bottom cake layer with 1/2 of the simple syrup. Spread 1/4 of the whipped cream over the syrup.

4. Top with the second layer, and brush with remaining syrup. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill.

5. Break top of the cake (the pieces you didn’t eat) into small chunks. Place on baking sheet and toast for 5-10 minutes, until dry.

6. Chop resulting toasted cake into small crumbs in food processor.

7. Use remaining whipped cream to cover top and sides of cake. Press toasted cake crumbs into sides of cake.

8. Serve slightly chilled.