Rice Pudding Cake Recipe

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In Italian, Torta di Riso is its name, studded with candied peel, baked in a tin lined with breadcrumbs or crushed amaretti, and eaten cold. For the British however, Rice Pudding Cake is served with nutmeg and a jewel-bright jam sauce poured on top. It can be a little time-consuming, but it is not difficult to make at all, and it’s very well worth spending time in the kitchen. Here’s how you can make British Rice Pudding Cake.


British Rice Pudding Cake Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup Arborio rice
  • 4 cups full-fat milk
  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/3 cup superfine sugar
  • 1 lemon (to zest)
  • 2 teaspoons of lemon juice (from the zested lemon)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup seedless raspberry jam
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • Nutmeg

How to Make Rice Pudding Cake

  1. In a heavy-based saucepan, add rice, milk, and salt. Finely grate lemon zest over it and place the saucepan over high heat, stirring regularly. Bring it to a near-boiling point.
  2. Turn your stove to low heat and continue cooking the rice and milk for about 30 minutes, stirring every now and then until the rice is cooked and the milk is absorbed. Keep an eye on it as you don’t want the milk to start boiling.
  3. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the 5 tablespoons of butter until melted. Scrape the contents of the pan into a bowl large enough to take all the remaining ingredients. Leave to cool for about an hour.
  4. Heat the oven to 325 degrees F.
  5. Grease an 8-inch springform cake tin with butter.
  6. Next, separate the eggs, letting the whites fall into a large grease-free bowl. Drop the yolks into a wide measuring jug or bowl. 
  7. Whisk the whites until stiff and then set aside.
  8. Add sugar to the yolks and whisk using a balloon whisk until they’re pale and moussy.
  9. Add the vanilla extract and 2 teaspoons of lemon juice to the yolks and sugar. Pour gradually into the cooled rice bowl.
  10. Gently fold in a large spoonful of the stiffly whisked whites into the rice mixture and stir briskly to lighten it.
  11. Fold in a third of the remaining whites gently but thoroughly, and then another third, and then fold in the rest. Pour the rice mixture gently into the prepared tin.
  12. Grate nutmeg over generously and bake for 45 minutes. By that time, the top will have set and there will be no hint of wobble underneath.
  13. Place it on a wire rack for about 1 hour until it’s just slightly warm. 
  14. To unmold the rice cake, slip a small spatula all around the edges, unclip the tin, and transfer the cake, still on its base, to a flat plate.
  15. In a small sauce pan, gently heat the raspberry jam with the lemon juice. Give it the occasional stir.
  16. Place a jug filled with hot water in the sink. Once the sauce is hot, pour the water out of the jug and fill it with the sauce.
  17. Serve.

Rice Pudding Cake Tips

  • For this Rice Pudding Cake, you can use any other non-dairy milk such as almond, cashew, or oat milk. Coconut milk is also an option.
  • Don’t forget to beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
  • Make sure that no yolk traces enter the egg whites.
  • Other Rice Pudding Cake recipes incorporate orange zest but if you want your cake to be closer to the Italian recipe, only use lemon zest.
  • The butter can also be melted on low heat instead of taking it off the stove.
  • You can use this recipe as a base for Hungarian Cake as it uses the same ingredients and it’s served more like a pudding. Raisins are often added to it and it’s dusted with powdered sugar, plum preserves, or whipped cream. 
  • If you want your Rice Pudding Cake to have more texture, you can also make a cookie crust for the rice pudding cake.
  • Ensure that the temperature of the Rice Pudding Cake indicates a gentle warmth or rather nearer room temperature than hot.
  • Refrigerate leftovers, covered, for up to 3 days. Eat cold.
  • Use a flat serving plate to serve the Rice Pudding Cake.
  • You may use salted butter instead of an unsalted one.

Final Note

A lovely recipe, this Rice Pudding Cake has all the sweetness of rice pudding but with the texture of a cake. It is also easy to make; all you need is rice, milk, butter, and sugar and you’re good to go! Enjoy the Rice Pudding Cake warm once cooked, and then eat the leftovers cold. Try cooking it today!

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