Chocolate Ricotta Cake

torta di ricotta al cioccolato

What is better than chocolate cake? I’ll tell you. Chocolate ricotta cake. Because adding ricotta cheese makes the cake smooth and moist and light and super delicious. And even better, it’s very easy to prepare. It requires minimal ingredients, most of which you probably already have in your pantry. There are no mixers or special equipment involved. Just two bowls, a whisk, and spatula – and in no time your chocolate cravings can be met! 

I’ve often seen recipes for ricotta cakes with chocolate chips mixed in. But why not make the whole cake chocolate? I demand more chocolate!

Italians use ricotta a lot in baking. It’s always creeping up in cakes, tarts, crostatas, even tiramisu. It adds such a lovely creaminess to desserts that I simply cannot resist. 

Don’t get me wrong. I love an elaborate layer cake with frosting and decorative rosettes on top, maybe even some sprinkles. But that just takes too much time and effort. This chocolate ricotta cake is an everyday, approachable, whip-up-at-the-last-minute kind of cake. It’s the kind of cake where it feels appropriate to have a slice at 10 in the morning or 2 in the afternoon. Sometimes one-layer cakes are called snack cakes, which sounds particularly delightful. 

Another scenario is when you wake up and it’s raining really hard and you have that moody feeling that only chocolate cake will make everything better, turn to this recipe. You can eat it with a spoon or with a fork, in a plate or in a bowl, plain or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I sound like the Dr Seuss of cake. 

Enjoy this chocolate ricotta cake for dessert at your next party or at a decadent brunch. Because of the ricotta, it will stay moist for days – on the off chance you have leftovers!

Ingredients

• Flour – type 00
• Cocoa powder
• Leavener – lievito in polvere per dolci
• Espresso powder
• Salt
• Eggs
• Sugar
• Ricotta cheese
• Neutral oil

Here in Italy, baking powder is sold as lievito in polvere per dolci, “powdered yeast for desserts” and is often lightly scented with vanilla. It is also sometimes called lievito istantaneo per dolci  or simply lievito per dolci and sold portioned as a bustina or “sachet” containing 16 grams. For this recipe, 1 teaspoon baking soda can be substituted, as the baking soda will react with the cocoa powder to create lift.

When baking with chocolate, such as cake or brownies, I like to add a little bit of espresso powder. You won’t necessarily notice a coffee taste, but it complements the cocoa flavor really well. 

Ricotta is what is called a “whey cheese”, meaning it is made from the liquid whey leftover when milk is heated and separated into curds to make cheese. 

Ricotta literally translates to “recooked”, so the process continues by reheating the whey with a bit of citrus or vinegar, and a fine curd develops. This is then strained through a cheesecloth and ricotta cheese remains. It can be made from sheep, cow, goat, or Italian water buffalo milk whey, but generally what we find in the store now is whole milk from a cow. 

Step by Step

In one bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. I’m using the Italian type 00 flour which is ground fine so it is light and perfect for baked goods. 

All the chocolate flavor is coming from the cocoa powder in this cake, which I always sift to remove the little clumps. 

I also add in the leavener, espresso powder and salt. Whisk to incorporate.

In a second bowl, whisk together the eggs with the sugar until fully combined and a bit frothy. 

Add in the ricotta and start to smush it down a bit with a spoon to help break it up. Whisk to incorporate it into the eggs. Then pour in the oil and whisk everything up until smooth and velvety. Any neutral oil will work for this cake, vegetable, canola, or sunflower are ones I use most often.

Then I add in the dry ingredients to the wet and gently stir it all together until just combined and no clumps remain. I don’t want to overmix and also don’t need to incorporate any extra air into the batter. 

I pour the batter into a 22cm round cake pan that I lined with parchment paper and bake at 180 °C for about 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

This cake’s charm is being smooth and moist, so don’t set the timer and put on a half-hour tv episode. Keep an eye on it! If this cake is overbaked for even a minute, it could end up dry.  

Springform pans are the most convenient for cakes because they’re the easiest to unmold.

A basic round cake pan is our other option here. Simply line the bottom with parchment and grease the sides with butter or a nonstick cooking spray. Once the cake is baked and cooled slightly, run a thin sharp knife around the edge to release the cake from the sides of the pan. Place a plate on top and invert; the cake should pop out of the pan. Remove the piece of parchment and carefully flip the cake back onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.  

A nice dusting of powdered sugar on the cooled cake makes it look fancy and professional. I accidentally smushed a corner of the cake with my thumb when I was taking it out of the oven, but you wouldn’t even know because powdered confectioners sugar covers up all the imperfections!

Tips and FAQs

• 1 tsp baking soda can be substituted for the Italian leavener
• Cake flour can be substituted in an equal amount for the Type 00 flour

If you love ricotta as much as I do, check out my spinach and ricotta meatballs and ricotta crostata with chocolate!

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Chocolate Ricotta Cake Recipe

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