Ricotta Orange Pound Cake with Strawberries

I have a wonderful recipe to share with you this week. It has great flavors of orange and almond, and comes from Giada De Laurentiis, the Food Network's Emmy Award winning personality and celebrity chef.

Ricotta Orange Pound Cake with Stawberries

1 1/2 cups cake flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature, plus more to grease the baking pan
1 1/2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups sugar, then an additional tablespoon
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 orange, zested
2 tablespoons amaretto (substitute almond extract if you don't have amaretto)
powdered sugar, for dusting
1 pint of strawberries, hulled and quartered (or 3 oranges, cut into supremes)

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

2. Grease a 9- by 5- by 3-inch loaf pan with butter.

3. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

4. Mix the ricotta, butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

5. While mixing, add the eggs, one at a time.

6. Add the vanilla, orange zest and amaretto (or almond extract) until mixed.

7. Next, add the flour mixture, 1/2 cup at a time until mixed.

8. Pour your mixture into the buttered pan.

9. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the cake is beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan.

10. Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire cooling rack.

Dust with powdered sugar. Mix the strawberries and oranges in a bowl with sugar and let sit. Serve alongside the pound cake.

Stay safe and eat great Canton.