Chocolate, more chocolate, a little more chocolate, cherries and creamy ricotta in the cake & the frosting. Finished off with chocolate covered fresh cherries.
Rich, decadent chocolate cake loaded with ricotta cheese in the cake and the filling. The cake is studded with fresh cherries & dark chocolate, then slathered in a cocoa ricotta buttercream and topped with chocolate covered cherries.
Dark Chocolate Cherry Ricotta Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoon instant espresso powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoon maraschino cherry juice
- 1/2 cup fresh cherries—pitted and finely chopped
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
- 1 1/3 cup Frigo® Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese
- 1/2 cup 1 stick butter, melted
- 2 eggs plus 1 yolk
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 cup hot water
Frosting
- 1 cup 2 sticks butter—softened
- 2 –3 cups powdered sugar
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- pinch salt
- 3 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup Frigo® Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese
Chocolate Covered Cherries
- 16 whole fresh cherries with stem
- 1/2 cup milk chocolate melting wafers or chips
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate melting wafers or chips
- 1 teaspoons coconut or canola oil
Method
- Preheat oven to 350º
- Grease 2 9 inch cake pans & line bottom with parchment
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment (or hand mixer), combine sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and powder, espresso powder, and salt.
- Add chocolate chips and cherries. Mix to coat.
- Add ricotta, butter, eggs and extracts to the bowl and beat until smooth.
- Pour in hot water & mix to fully combine (batter will be thin).
- Divide batter evenly between pans.
- Bake in preheated oven for 30–40 minutes—checking at 30 with a toothpick inserted in the center. Cake is done when the toothpick has just a few moist crumbs attached.
- Cool on a wire rack in pans for 10 minutes then remove from pans and cool completely before frosting.
Frosting
- Place butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment (or hand mixer). Cream on medium speed for 5 minutes.
- Add powdered sugar, cocoa, salt & vanilla. Mix until completely combined. Frosting will be very thick.
- Add ricotta cheese & mix until fully incorporated. Don’t overmix! Beat just until smooth.
- Frost middle, top & sides of cake.
Chocolate Covered Cherries
- Wash & dry cherries. Make sure they are very dry.
- Line a tray with parchment paper.
- Add chocolate and oil to a bowl and microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring between, until fully melted.
- Dip cherries individually and place on lined tray until chocolate is completely hardened.
- Use cherries to decorate top of cake as desired (I used 8).
Notes
Use a large chocolate bar and a vegetable peeler to make chocolate curls for the top of the cake, if desired.