Italian Ricotta Cake

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, icing sugar, salt, and baking powder. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients. Add the milk, egg yolks, lemon zest, and vanilla paste to the well. Cut the butter into small pieces and add them to the bowl.

Use your hands to mix the ingredients together until a soft dough forms, without adding additional flour. Separate the dough into two discs: one disc with 2/3 of the dough, and the other disc with the remaining 1/3 of dough. Cover each disc with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to allow the butter in the dough to firm up.

Sift the ricotta through a fine-mesh sieve to remove any lumps and create a smooth, creamy texture. Add the sugar to the ricotta and stir until well combined. Cover the filling with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the pastry is ready to roll out.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Take the pastry out from the fridge and roll the base to 1/2 cm thick with a little flour to avoid sticking. Line the pastry base into a 21 cm tin (20 cm-24 cm tins will work) and transfer the ricotta cream filling into the base, smoothing the filling out to the edges. Carefully cut off the excess pastry with a sharp knife, leaving a small overhang. Set the excess pastry aside.

To make the pastry lid, lightly flour your rolling pin and roll out the remaining pastry into a circle. Beat the reserved egg whites with a fork and lightly brush around the edge of the pastry base.

Bake the ricotta cake for 30 minutes, or until the top is light brown all over. Let the cake cool completely before dusting it with a mixture of icing sugar and ground cinnamon.