Strawberry Crumble Cake With Creamy Ricotta

Ingredients

For the crumble dough:

• all purpose flour
• white sugar
• unsalted butter, cold just out of the fridge
• baking powder
• egg
• lemons zest from 1 lemon
• Pinch of salt

For the filling:

• ricotta cheese, store bought or make your own using this homemade ricotta recipe.
• fresh strawberries
• sugar

Baking pan:

9.5 inch sprinform pan

How To Make - Step By Step

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Prepare Crumble Dough

• In a large bowl, add all dry ingredients: all purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, a pinch of salt.
• Cut butter in nail-size cubes, add to the mix.
• Zest 1 lemon using a microplane zester or a fine grater. Be sure just to grate the yellow skin, avoiding the white pith.
• Cut everything with a wooden spatula or a dough cutter until butter cubes are cut into smaller pieces.
• Add the egg. Using the same cutting motion work the mix again until the dough has reached even crumble texture.
• Give the last gentle toss to the dough with your hands, getting any flour and sugar from the bottom of the bowl.
  
  IMPORTANT:
  Do NOT knead the dough as you would for pasta, bread etc. Instead gently rub it with your hands.
  The dough should NOT come together, instead it should remain crumbly.
  For this reason, pay attention not to rub it for too long, as the butter will start to melt and the dough will loose its crumble texture.
  
• Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and put in the fridge for the time you’ll be preparing the filling.
  Again, we’re doing this to not let the butter melt and ruin the dough crumbs.

Prepare Strawberry Ricotta Filling

• Wash and pat-dry fresh strawberries with a paper towel.
• Cut off the top, and cut into quarters. If you happen to have a giant strawberry in the mix, cut it in 8 parts 🙂 The idea is to have more or less even pieces. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoon of sugar. If the strawberries are less sweet, feel free to add another spoon.
• Drain off the excess liquid from ricotta cheese.
• In a separate bowl mix ricotta cheese with a half of strawberries.

Assemble The Cake

• Grease and flour your baking pan. You can also cover it with a parchment paper instead.
• Spread ⅔ of the crumble dough over the bottom of the baking pan.
• Make sure there are no empty space. Form approx ½ inch high borders.
• Sightly press the dough with the palm of your hand.
• Spread strawberry ricotta mix over the cake.

• Top with the remaining fresh strawberries.
• Sprinkle over the top ⅓ of the remaining dough.
• It’s totally fine if you have strawberries showing off here and there.
  If needed, gently fold in the sides of the cake inside.

Bake at 375F for 30-40 minutes. Let the cake cool. Dust it with confectioner's sugar before serving.

Top Tips For Making Strawberry Crumble Cake

• Depending on where you are in the world, the perfect strawberry season will be different. For Southern Italy, it's March but if you live in colder climate it's usually May/June. When you start to feel strawberries are getting sweet and fragrant, you can be sure it’s time.
• If you're making this strawberry crumble cake a little early in the season, you might need to add another tablespoon or two to the strawberries for sweetness.
• You can make this recipe without any special equipment. But you can also prepare the crumble dough using food processor if you wish. Follow the same steps when it comes to adding the ingredients and process until you get a medium size crumble.

This Strawberry Crumble Cake is also a perfect dessert to make for Mother's Day and for no special reason at all.

Super easy to make, this strawberry crumble cake with ricotta filling is south to the border of delicious.

If you love strawberries, try also Strawberry Tiramisu - a delicious fruity twist on the classic Tiramisu recipe. It's made without eggs and comes together quickly and easily!