Rose Prince's Baking Club: ricotta cake Use fresh buffalo ricotta if you can find it - order from Italian food specialist Natoora.co.uk, which can courier to British addresses. Supermarket ricotta needs to be drained before weighing. 30cm x 20cm x 5cm (12in x 8in x 2in) baking tray, or a 25cm (8in) round tin, buttered and lined with baking parchment, then buttered again 300g/10½oz ricotta (drained of excess water) 125g/4½oz unsalted shelled pistachio nuts, or hazelnuts 200g/7oz softened unsalted butter 200g/7oz caster sugar 6 eggs, separated Zest and juice of two lemons ¾ tsp cream of tartar 40g/1½oz plain flour 5 figs, each cut into eight If the ricotta is very wet, put it in a sieve over a bowl and leave to stand for an hour or so to allow some of the water to run out. Once it is drier, mash it with a fork and set to one side. Preheat the oven to 175C/350F/gas 4. Toast the nuts for about 15 minutes until fragrant, then remove from the oven and chop. If you are using hazelnuts, rub the skins off before chopping. Beat together the butter and the sugar (less one heaped tablespoon, which will be mixed later with the egg whites) in a mixing bowl until pale and increased in volume. Add the egg yolks one by one, then stir in the lemon zest and juice, and the ricotta. Whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and whisk until it makes soft white peaks. Add the heaped tablespoon of caster sugar, and whisk again until the foam is stiffer and glossy. Fold the whisked egg white into the butter and ricotta mixture. Add half the chopped nuts and all the flour, folding it in well until all is thoroughly, but gently, mixed. Turn the mixture into the tin. Scatter the fig slices over the top with the remaining nuts and bake until puffed and set - about one hour. It will keep for 24 hours in the fridge. Daniel Collins's soda loaf is more of a brick. I started making soda bread because the method is so easy, but every loaf is heavy and airless. I have made three, and thrown them all away. Shall I give up? No, don't, help is at hand from the experts. I learnt to make soda loaves from the Allens of Ballymaloe, who have a hotel and cookery school in Co Cork. They have published many soda bread recipes in their books, most recently in the excellent Master It by Darina Allen's brother, Rory O'Connell. From his advice, it appears you are overmixing. He says just mix and shape the dough quickly - "Kneading the dough is unnecessary and will actually toughen the bread," he writes. Keep trying. Next week: chocolate orange cake: you will need dark chocolate, marmalade, butter, sugar, eggs, self-raising flour, orange zest.