Giada De Laurentiis uses this cheese in her lemon pound cake – SheKnows

Cheesecake is deliciously creamy (and goes surprisingly well with tangy fruit toppings!), so it’s no surprise that cheese can enhance the flavor of other types of cakes as well. Giada De Laurentiis just shared the secret cheese ingredient she uses to make a “soft, tender crumb” in her lemon pound cake, and it sounds so good.

De Laurentiis posted a video of his lemon cake on Instagram today, revealing that she uses ricotta cheese to create the perfect texture.

“The ricotta in this lemon ricotta pound cake gives it a soft, tender crumb,” she captioned the video, which shows her rolling out the pound cake, cooking it, basting it and plating it with fresh strawberries. She also drizzles it with a sweet frosting. “The lemon glaze on top ties it all together with the perfect amount of sweetness,” she added.

This lemon cake would go so well with a hot cup of coffee after dinner (or for breakfast or an afternoon snack or any other time, really). The Italian chef shared the full recipe on her Giadzy website, explaining that it takes 15 minutes of prep time and 60 minutes of cooking time.

“If you all know me, you know that ‘lemon ricotta’ is a popular phrase in my dessert vocabulary!” she wrote about the Giadzy. “It’s a particularly nice combination in this pound cake.”

She continued: “The cake itself isn’t too sweet, which is how I prefer my desserts – but the bright lemony frosting makes it perfect. I love having a little slice of this cake with afternoon tea or coffee.

Ingredients include butter, sugar, ricotta cheese, lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla extract, etc. Beat the butter, sugar and cheese with a hand mixer until fluffy, then add the other ingredients. Stir in the dry ingredients, then spread into a 9×5-inch loaf pan.

Next, whip the frosting with powdered sugar, salt and lemon juice, drizzling over the cake after baking. You can also make this cake gluten-free by adding 1 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour mix and ½ cup almond flour to the recipe’s all-purpose flour.

This cake tastes as good as it looks, with one person commenting, “Delicious and it freezes beautifully!” Another wrote: “I made this GF recently and it was delicious!”

“I tried and loved this recipe, it’s divine,” someone else said.

If you are looking for something sweet and tangy, moist and crumbly, then you have to try this unique Lemon Ricotta Cake. You’ll never want a cake made without fluffy cheese again!

Read the complete De Laurentiis lemon and ricotta pound cake recipe here.

Satisfy your sweet tooth with more awesome Costco bakery items seen in the gallery below.