When I had knee replacement surgery about five years ago, I had a bad time of it. I was pretty miserable and I wasn’t eating. My husband was always looking for treats to entice me and cheer me up. There is a little food shop with a small counter a couple of blocks from our house that makes breakfast and lunch and they sold a ricotta rum pound cake with chocolate chips. Well, it turned out that I was always happy to eat that! It set me on a quest to find a good recipe for this delicious pound cake that I could make at home. I found a ricotta pound cake that Giada made and used that as my base. It’s fabulous with coffee, tea or a dessert wine, but no one will stop you if you have it with a glass of milk.

Ricotta Rum Pound Cake adapted from Giada De Laurentiis

Yield: One 9 x 5 inch loaf

Ingredients

1.5 cups cake flour (I like King Arthur brand)

Grated zest of one navel orange

2.5 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoons Kosher salt

1.5 sticks (3/4 cups) of unsalted butter at room temperature

1.5 cups whole milk ricotta

1.5 cups granulated sugar

3 large eggs at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 Tablespoons Dark Rum

3/4 semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips (do not go over 63% cacao)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or PAM a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan and line the bottom with waxed paper which is then also greased or sprayed with PAM.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, orange zest, salt and baking powder and stir to distribute the ingredients. Measure your chocolate chips into a small bowl and spoon a couple of Tablespoons of the flour mixture over the chips to coat them. This will prevent the chips from sinking to the bottom of the batter while baking.
3. Using an electric mixer, cream together the butter, ricotta and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. You should still see some ricotta lumps. With the machine running, add the eggs one at a time.
4. Add the vanilla and rum and mix until combined. Add the dry ingredients, slowly, mixing just until incorporated. By hand, using a spatula, fold in the chocolate chips, dusted with flour. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.
5. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean and the cake is beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 75-80 minutes. Let the cake cool in th epan for 10 minutes and then transfer the cake to a wire rack to cool completely.

Wrapped tightly, this cake will last a week.