This recipe came about because I still had a spare Aomori apple lying around, and I wanted to use it to make something with the leftover ricotta cheese I also had. Yeah, I mentioned it somewhere before, but maybe 1 in every 4 of my recipes on this blog came about from me needing to use up leftover ingredients, and sometimes those are my favorite recipes. This was definitely one of those. I wanted to make a crumb cake, using ricotta as the base for the batter, along with the apple and brown butter, and paired that with a kinako ricotta cream, loosely inspired by cannoli cream, a kinako-almond crunch for that crumb component, and just to be pretty, a simple syrup made from the Aomori apple peels to add some moisture to the cake, but also give a pretty garnish for the cake itself. The thing about baking with ricotta is that it can be used to add fat and moisture to the batter, being a dairy product and whatnot. I kind of see it as a substitute to yogurt in a batter, where it adds a richness to the crumb, but also an airiness. In this case, we also have chunks of gorgeous Aomori apples in there, which is a fun play on apples and cheese, and adds much needed moisture and flavor so that the cake tastes like an apple fritter. The kinako and almond crunch adds texture, while the kinako-ricotta cream along with the syrup are failsafes to ensure that the cake itself is not too dry, a risk you run when putting cooked crumbly bits into a cake batter. I purposely did not spice my batter, because I did not want to overwhelm the Aomori apple flavor, instead, focusing on a pure apple taste!

This recipe is pretty easy to make. The crunch is gluten-free and comes together quickly. The syrup is infused with apple brandy, just to impart a more intense apple flavor, while the cake batter itself, the most manual part is just cutting up the apples themselves, and being careful not to overmix the batter, or the cake will have a tough texture. The cream, so long as you can wring out any excess liquid from the ricotta using a cheesecloth, it comes together easily since the strained ricotta will whip really smoothy. While I might not always love the grainy texture of ricotta, but straining, then whipping it with sugar, you end up with a silky, soft whipped topping. Usually that is used as a filling for cannolis, but in this case, we are adding kinako powder to it to tie back with the crunch, and give the cream a nice, toasty flavor to play off of the mildly sweet notes of the apples and brown butter!

Makes 3 cake loaves:
For the kinako-almond crunch:
2 tbsp kinako powder
2 tbsp almond flour
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
1 tbsp brown butter
a pinch of salt
2 tbsp flaked almonds

Mix all of your ingredients together in a bowl to form your crunch dough. Spread the dough on a lined sheet tray and bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes. Crumble the dough into smaller pieces.

For the apple peel syrup:
Reserved Aomori apple peels
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp calvados/apple brandy
1/2 cup water
1 tsp lemon juice
a pinch of salt

Bring everything to a simmer until the syrup takes on a vivid pink color. Strain out the apple peels and allow the syrup to cool before using. After brushing the tops of the cakes with the syrup, place the rest into micro pipets for plating.

For the cake batter:
6oz Aomori apple, peeled and diced, with 9 thin slices for garnish
4oz brown butter
2 egg whites
7oz ricotta cheese
5oz granulated sugar 
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt

In a bowl, stir the apples with brown butter first, until the apples are tender. To that, mix all of your other ingredients in to form a batter. Fill three lined 4-inch by 2-inch loaf tins halfway with the batter, then sprinkle half of your crunch across the three cakes. Then layer on top more batter, and your reserved apple slices. Bake the cakes at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes. Then brush the apple peel syrup on top of the cakes, then bake again for another 5 minutes to finish. While the cakes are still warm, sprinkle on top the rest of your crumble and allow the cakes to cool before attempting to unmold.

For the kinako-ricotta cream:
4oz ricotta cheese, excess liquid squeezed out
2 tbsp confectioner’s sugar
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp kinako powder
1 tsp vanilla extract

Whip everything together until creamy, smooth, and spreadable. Using two spoons, quenelle the cream and place on top of each loaf, along with the micro pipets of additional syrup.