Chocolate Ricotta Cake

This moist Chocolate Ricotta Cake is so delicious. The ricotta cheese in the cake batter adds richness and gives this bundt cake it's wonderfully soft texture. Keep this recipe in mind for the chocolate lovers in your life- it is sure to become a favorite!

Ingredients

Find our full ingredient listing at the bottom of this post! Here's a look at the key ingredients.

• Sugar
• All Purpose Flour (We used White Lily) *Make sure that it is not self rising.
• Cocoa not to be confused with hot cocoa mix ;0)
• Baking Soda, Baking Powder, and Salt (Unlike many of our recipes, today's recipe calls for more baking soda than baking powder- it isn't a typo!)
• Unsalted Butter We use unsalted as the amount of salt in salted butter varies by brand. We prefer to use unsalted & add our salt separately.
• Eggs, room temperature (If in a hurry, place eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes).
• RIcotta Cheese (we use whole milk ricotta rather than reduced fat)
• Milk (We use whole milk or 2%)
• Vegetable Oil (We use canola)
• Vanilla Extract
• Hot Coffee (Use whatever coffee you like, we used instant espresso.)

How to Make Chocolate Ricotta Cake

This cake uses a version of the reverse creaming method of mixing. If you are unfamiliar with this method, you may notice that the order of ingredients is different than the usual creaming method. (Butter is added to the combined dry ingredients, then eggs, and wet ingredients are added last.) The result is a velvety soft, ultra moist cake. Here's a quick look at our steps!

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a tube pan or bundt pan. (This recipe makes about 9.5 cups of batter.) See notes.
• Add dry ingredients to the bowl of your mixer and mix for one minute to blend (sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt)
• Add butter a few slices at a time and mix until it reaches a crumbly, sandy texture from the butter coating the dry ingredients.

• Next, add the eggs, one at a time, mixing at low to medium speed after each until blended. The mixture will become thick.

• In another bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla. This is all of your wet ingredients except for the coffee, it will be added to the batter later.
• Set a timer for 1 ½ minutes and slowly add the ricotta cheese mixture. Begin on low speed and increase to medium once you've finished pouring.
• Next, with the mixer on low speed, slowly add the cup of hot coffee to the batter and mix for about 30 seconds until well blended. The batter will become very thin.

• This recipe makes about 9 ½ cups of batter. Pour into the prepared bundt pan or tube pan and bake.

• Bake for about 50-60 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs attached. Baking times may vary based on your pan, oven, etc. Start checking for doneness as the 50 minute mark approaches and adjust time if needed.

Chocolate Glaze

This cake is rich and delicious even without a glaze, but we decided to dress our cake up a bit! The chocolate glaze is beautiful, simple to make, and adds another boost of chocolate flavor.

This is a quick ganache glaze that can be prepared in the microwave. It is a combination of chocolate and heavy cream. It cools as it thickens. Once your cake has cooled, you can either spoon it over the cake, or for more control, you can add it with a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away (or a ziplock bag with the corner snipped away.)

Recipe FAQs

More Chocolate Cakes

We have so many more chocolate cake recipes to share with you! Some of our most popular are our layered chocolate cake from scratch, chocolate sour cream cake, and milk chocolate cake. We also have a great roundup of favorite chocolate cakes for all of the chocolate lovers!

Chocolate Ricotta Cake

BY Melissa and Bebe

This moist and rich Chocolate Ricotta Cake is so chocolatey, soft, and delicious!

Prep Time: 20 minutes mins

Cook Time: 50 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Servings: 15

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Ingredients

• ▢ 2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
• ▢ 2 ¾ cups (322g) All Purpose Flour
• ▢ 1 cup (82g) unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch processed)
• ▢ 2 teaspoons (10g) Baking Soda
• ▢ ½ teaspoon (2g) Baking Powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon (2g) Salt
• ▢ 2 sticks Unsalted Butter, softened. (it shouldn't be overly soft, but should easily dent when pressed)
• ▢ 1 cup (235g) Ricotta Cheese
• ▢ ¼ cup vegetable oil (we used canola)
• ▢ 1 cup (220g) Milk
• ▢ 4 eggs, room temperature (if in a hurry, place eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes).
• ▢ 1 teaspoon (4g) vanilla
• ▢ 1 cup (220g) Very Hot Coffee (Use whatever coffee you like. We used instant espresso)

Chocolate Glaze

• ▢ 4 oz Semi-Sweet or Dark Chocolate (We used Ghirardelli brand dark chocolate chips.)
• ▢ 3 oz Heavy Cream or Whipping Cream

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a tube pan or bundt pan. (This recipe makes about 9.5 cups of batter.) See notes.
• Add dry ingredients to the bowl of your mixer and mix on low speed for one minute to blend (sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt). (You could whisk by hand if you prefer for this step).
• With the mixer on low speed, add butter a few slices at a time and mix until it reaches a crumbly, sandy texture from the butter coating the dry ingredients. Don't mix beyond this sandy consistency. (You've mixed too long if it begins to resemble a ball of dough.)
• Next, add the eggs, one at a time, mixing at low to medium speed after each until blended. The mixture will become thick.
• In another bowl, stir to combine the ricotta cheese, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla. This is all of your wet ingredients except for the coffee, it will be added to the batter later.
• Set a timer for 1 ½ minutes and slowly add the ricotta cheese mixture. Begin on low speed and increase to medium once you've finished pouring.
• Next, with the mixer on low speed, slowly add the cup of hot coffee to the batter and mix for about 30 seconds until well blended. The batter will become very thin.
• This recipe makes about 9 ½ cups of batter. Pour into the prepared bundt pan or tube pan and bake. Bake for about 50-60 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs attached. Baking times may vary based on your pan, oven, etc. Start checking for doneness as the 50 minute mark approaches and adjust time if needed.

For the Glaze

• Combine the 4 oz. semi-sweet or dark chocolate and 3 oz. heavy cream in a microwave safe bowl. Heat in the microwave in small increments (30 seconds or less), stirring occasionally in between, until the chocolate is almost completely melted.
• Then, allow to sit a minute or two and gently stir to melt any remaining pieces of chocolate. Cool the ganache to desired consistency for dripping. We like to apply the drip using a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away.

Decorating the Cake

• Once the cake has cooled, apply chocolate glaze to the cake. You can do this by spooning it over the cake, or for more control, use a piping bag with the tip snipped away, or a ziplock bag with the corner snipped away.
• This cake can sit at room temperature for 2-3 days under a cake dome or airtight container. If you prefer to refrigerate, you will want to remove from the refrigerator a couple of hours before serving so that the cake has a chnace to warm and soften.

Notes

We baked our recipe in a 10 inch tube pan. This recipe makes about 9.5 cups of batter.

If you are using a smaller pan, make sure that you do not fill the pan more than about ⅔ full. This will ensure that you have plenty of room for the cake to rise.

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