• Gather your ingredients and set up your work space.
  
• Preheat oven to 325°.
• Prep cake pan by coating with oil and place a round of parchment on the bottom and a parchment collar around the edge.
  
• Place butter, 1 cup of the sugar, vanilla extract and lemon zest in electric mixer bowl. Beat on a high setting for 8-10 minutes until pale and creamy. Turn off mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
  
• Turn mixer onto a medium setting for stirring and add eggs yolks one at a time allowing each egg to fully incorporate into the batter.
  
• Add the almond flour and mix to combine.
• Add in the ricotta and mix until it is thoroughly incorporated into the batter and set aside.
• Whip the egg whites until soft peaks from, about 8 minutes.
• Add the sugar and continue to whip until the meringue is glossy and forms firm peaks.
  
• Fold meringue into the batter until thoroughly incorporated.
  
• Pour batter into the cake pan and tap the pan on the countertop to settle the batter into the pan. Smooth out the top with a palette knife and decorate with the almond flakes.
  
• Bake 55 - 70 minutes. The cake should be lightly browned and shimmer in the middle when moved. It should feel firm with some spring when touched in the center.
  
• Let cool completely in the cake tin. It will deflate some.
• Remove carefully from the pan and remove the parchment paper from the bottom and sides. Place on a serving plate.
• Dust with icing sugar before serving.
  

Tips

• Ricotta: For the best result, use a dry ricotta such as Gioia Cheese Company brand imported from Italy. A dry ricotta is best for making desserts such as cannoli. Strain a wet ricotta before use. Place ricotta in cheesecloth or tightly woven mesh strainer and hang over a bowl to capture the liquid. Depending upon the cheese, this could take up to 24 hours.
• Separating eggs: If there is any fat/oil in egg whites, they will not whip up to a meringue. Care must be taken when separating the yolk from the whites. Use 3 bowls: - #1 for separating the white from the yolk; #2 for separated yolks; #3 for separated whites. Starting with bowl #1, crack the egg and pour into your hand. Let the egg white slip through to the bowl as you coddle the yolk. Place the egg yolk into bowl #2. Check to see that there is NO trace of YELLOW egg yolk in the white. If clean, pour the egg white into bowl #3. If there is yolk in the white, save the white for other cooking and DO NOT reuse the bowl. Always use a CLEAN bowl. Repeat process until all eggs are separated.
• Whipping egg whites in a stainless or glass bowl:  For proper aeration, a small mixer bowl is best for up to 3 egg whites; a large mixer bowl for 4 or more egg whites. Cream of tartar acts as a stabilizer in recipes that require whipped egg whites, such as meringue, angel food cake, and soufflé. When whipped, egg whites can swell up to eight times their initial volume.
• Whipping egg whites in a copper bowl: If you have a copper bowl, you won't need to add the cream of tartar. The copper ions form a yellow complex with one of the proteins in eggs, conalbumin. The conalbumin-copper complex is more stable than the conalbumin alone, so egg whites whipped in a copper bowl are less likely to unfold.
• Never use a plastic bowl for whipping egg whites. The plastic retains grease and the whites will not gain volume.