Summary

Helen Goh’s ricotta and lemon cake recipe makes a shallow, tender cake with almond meal, fresh lemon zest, and a dusting of icing sugar. It’s served with roasted strawberries and their juices spooned alongside. The texture is close and almost pudding-like not a light sponge. It’s rated easy, serves 8–10, and takes 1–2 hours, including a short roast for the fruit. This guide includes US weights, fan-forced and conventional oven temperatures, step-by-step instructions for both the cake and the strawberries, and answers to common baking questions.

This ricotta and lemon cake recipe comes from Helen Goh, who calls it “the sort of cake I crave.” It is simple and understated, and it works best with seasonal fruit. The cake is made with ricotta and almond meal, so the crumb is tender, close and almost pudding-like. It is not light and fluffy like a sponge.

It is also shallow. A heavy dusting of powdered sugar is all it needs, with roasted strawberries spooned alongside. It serves 8 to 10 people. Goh’s original is rated easy, with a listed time of 1 to 2 hours.

This guide follows Goh’s recipe as published by Good Food in The Sydney Morning Herald. The quantities are hers. The US weights and notes are added for American bakers. It has not been kitchen-tested by NewsIQ.

What kind of cake is this?

Expect a soft, dense slice, not a tall, airy one. If you want height and bounce, this is the wrong recipe. If you want a cake that goes well with coffee or fruit, it is the right one.

Ricotta and lemon cake ingredients

Use a kitchen scale if you can. The ounces below are weights, not fluid ounces. Cup measures are left out because packed flour and almond meal vary too much by cup.

For the cake

Ingredient	Original	US note
Unsalted butter, softened	180 g	About 6.35 oz
Olive oil	30 ml	About 2 tablespoons
Caster sugar	200 g	About 7.05 oz, sold as superfine sugar
Lemon zest, finely grated	1 tablespoon	From about 2 medium lemons
Eggs, room temperature	3	3 eggs
Ricotta	250 g	About 8.82 oz
Vanilla essence	1 teaspoon	Vanilla extract works
Plain flour	190 g	About 6.70 oz all-purpose flour
Almond meal	70 g	About 2.47 oz ground almonds
Baking powder	1½ teaspoons	Same
Fine sea salt	½ teaspoon	Same
Icing sugar	For dusting	Powdered sugar

For the roasted strawberries [VERIFY]

400 g strawberries, washed and hulled (about 14.1 oz)
40 g sifted icing sugar (about 1.41 oz powdered sugar)

Hulling means cutting off the green top and the firm core beneath it.

Three ingredient notes

The lemon flavor comes from zest only. The cake ingredients list no juice, so use the juice elsewhere. Take the yellow peel and leave the bitter white pith.
Almond meal means ground almonds. US almond flour is often finer and may be made from blanched almonds. Check the package. Almond meal is the closest match to what Goh asks for.
Caster sugar is not powdered sugar. In the US, look for superfine sugar.

Equipment and oven temperatures

You need a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, two mixing bowls, a spatula, a 9-inch springform pan (Goh says about 22-23 cm), a wire rack and a skewer. For the fruit, use a small rimmed tray so the juices stay put.

Stage	Fan-forced (convection)	Conventional
Cake	160°C / 320°F	180°C / 356°F
Strawberries [VERIFY]	220°C / 428°F	240°C / 464°F

These Fahrenheit numbers are direct conversions. If your oven moves in 5-degree steps, use 320°F or 355°F for the cake. Fan-forced is the Australian word for convection, and the fan figure already accounts for it. Do not lower it again. Some ovens convert automatically when you switch on the fan, so check yours.

How to make ricotta and lemon cake

1. Prepare the pan. Grease the springform pan. Line the base and sides with baking paper. Heat the oven to 160°C fan-forced or 180°C conventional.

2. Beat the butter mix. Put the butter, olive oil, sugar and lemon zest in the mixer bowl. Beat on medium-high for 2 to 3 minutes until light and creamy. Scrape the sides now and then so it mixes evenly.

3. Add eggs, then ricotta. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. The mix may look slightly split or curdled. Goh says not to worry. Add the ricotta and vanilla, then mix on medium-low until combined.

4. Fold in the dry ingredients. Whisk the flour, almond meal, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl. Add it to the wet mix and fold gently until fully combined. Scrape the bottom of the bowl so no dry flour hides there. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top.

5. Bake. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until lightly golden and a skewer in the center comes out clean. Start checking at 45 minutes. A soft crumb is normal. Wet batter on the skewer is not. If you see it, give the cake a few more minutes. [VERIFY the exact cooling and removal steps against the original, as they fall past the end of the PDF.]

How to roast the strawberries

When the cake is out, raise the oven to the roasting temperature in the table above and let it fully heat. Toss the hulled strawberries gently with the sifted powdered sugar and roast for 10 to 15 minutes. Look for berries that have softened and slumped, with edges just starting to caramelize. Go by how they look, not only the timer.

Spoon the berries and every drop of juice into a bowl. Check that any baking paper you use is rated for this heat. If it is not, use an oven-safe tray without paper.

How to serve it

Let the cake cool on a wire rack. Move it to a plate and sift powdered sugar over the top. Slice it into 8 to 10 pieces. Keep the strawberries in their own bowl so guests can spoon fruit and juice over their own slice. The dusted top stays neat that way.

Tips for a better cake

Keep the pan close to 9 inches. A smaller pan makes the batter deeper and changes the bake time.
Do not judge doneness by color alone. Use the skewer.
Do not add flour if the batter looks split. It changes the balance of the recipe.
Use ricotta, as the recipe says. A swap like cream cheese changes the batter, and this version has not been tested with it.

FAQs

Why is my lemon ricotta cake dense?
Density is part of the design. Goh describes a close, almost pudding-like crumb, and the cake is shallow on purpose. Judge it by the cooked center and a clean skewer, not by height. If the middle is wet, bake it longer.

Why does the batter look curdled?
It can look split after the eggs go in. The original says this is fine at that stage. Add the ricotta and vanilla and carry on.

Does this cake need lemon juice?
No. The recipe uses one tablespoon of finely grated zest from about two medium lemons. Adding juice would add liquid the batter is not built for.

Is this almond ricotta cake gluten-free?
No. It has 190 g of plain flour along with 70 g of almond meal.

How long does it keep, and can I freeze it?
The original does not give storage times, and this version has not been tested for shelf life. No safe number can be given here. For best texture, serve it fresh and keep the fruit separate.

Recipe credit: Helen Goh, Good Food / The Sydney Morning Herald. Adapted with US conversions and added notes.