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Soft & Light Sponge Cake with Ricotta & Strawberry filling

by Micaela Harrasser

This is your ultimate summery cake! Light and fresh, it’s a soft sponge with a rich filling made of zesty ricotta, cream and delicious strawberries. Impossible to resist! And your guests will be impressed by how pretty it is!
This cake is a fruity version of a traditional Italian cake from Alto Adige, named Kase Sahne Torte. It’s super light and soft, thanks to the delicate sponge and the light (and not too sweet) creamy filling. As the original cake, the only flavorings come from the lemon zest and the vanilla (here I used vanilla bean paste). Another bonus point for me is the fact that it’s not super sweet, meaning you can enjoy more of it without that sugar rush feeling that can become unpleasant. Thanks to the ricotta, which is a quite light cheese, the result is cake that compared to your average cheesecake it’s lighter in both texture and flavor. Hence, perfect for a hot summery day or a picnic!
And the strawberry touch..how cute is the end result? 😀 if you are not a huge fan, or you cannot find flavorful strawberries, you can swap them with blueberries, raspberries or even do a mix of berries! 😀
Let me know if you make them and how it turns out! Buon appetito!

Soft & Light Sponge Cake with Ricotta & Strawberry filling

Serves: 6x Prep Time: Cooking Time: Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Ingredients

For the Pan di Spagna sponge:

  • 50g all-purpose flour
  • 50g granulated sugar
  • 25g maizena
  • 3 eggs
  • 7g honey
  • pinch of salt
  • optional: 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

For the ricotta & strawberry filling:

  • 250g ricotta
  • 75g white caster sugar
  • 200ml cream
  • 3g gelatin sheets
  • zest of 1/2 lemon
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
  • 500g strawberries

Instructions

  1. First, let's make the sponge. Turn the oven to 180C.
  2. In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment (alternatively you can use an electric whisk), add the eggs sugar honey, vanilla paste if using, and the pinch of salt.
  3. Beat up the eggs for a few minutes until they grow in size, become pale and soft.
  4. Turn off the machine, add the flour and maizena, and gently mix them in with a spatula by folding in from top to bottom.
  5. You do this to try to maintain the light and airy structure of the egg mixture.
  6. Transfer the mix onto your cake tin lined with parchment paper.
  7. Place in the lower part of the oven and cook until the top is nice and golden and the inside is cooked (dry skewer test), which should take about 15-18 minutes.
  8. Once ready, let it cool off completely.
  9. Now let's prepare the filling!
  10. Place the gelatin sheets in cold water to re-hydrate.
  11. In a bowl, add the ricotta (without any potential excess liquid from the tub).
  12. Add the lemon zest, sugar and vanilla paste.
  13. Mix well with a spoon.
  14. Transfer a couple of tablespoons of cream in a small pot, and the rest in a small but tall container (ideally).
  15. Whisk the cream up until it becomes stiff.
  16. At this point, cut in half the sponge to form two disks.
  17. Cut the strawberries in half.
  18. Start heating up the cream in the pot.
  19. Squeeze the soft gelatin sheets with your hands and add them to the warmed up cream.
  20. Mix well to melt them.
  21. Transfer the gelatin + cream mix onto the ricotta mix.
  22. Optional: if you are not sure you have dissolved all gelatin, you can pass this mixture through a fine sieve.
  23. Mix well, then add the stiff cream.
  24. Mix very well with the spoon until you get a consistent mixture with no lumps.
  25. Taste to make sure it's fantastic ;D
  26. In the cake tin, add the bottom sponge disk, and place the strawberries on top on the edges, with the pointy parts facing up.
  27. Cut the remaining strawberries in smaller pieces (I did quarters) and add them to the center of the cake.
  28. Add the ricotta & cream filling on top and level it out with a spatula.
  29. Add the top of the sponge disk, cover with cling film and store the cake in the fridge for at least 6h to overnight.
  30. When ready to serve, cover with icing sugar and enjoy!

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