Italian Chocolate Chip Ricotta Cake
This deliciously moist Homemade Italian Cake is made with ricotta cheese and chocolate chips. The perfect Breakfast, Snack or even Dessert Cake Recipe. A Cake everyone will love.
After living in Italy for over 25 years, I like to think I know this country , the people and the food quite well. Especially the food!
Naturally Pasta and Pizza are my favourites, but needless to say, I also love a good Dessert! I like the fact that Italians love to eat cake for breakfast and no excuse is needed.
And of course Ricotta Cake is one of the most popular Italian Cakes to make. This moist tasty cake, just like most Italian Cakes, needs no icing or glaze. Just a simple dusting of powdered sugar is all it needs.
Recipe Ingredients
- Eggs – large eggs room temperature
- Sugar – granulated sugar
- Vanilla – vanilla extract
- Ricotta – if the ricotta cheese is very liquidy place in a sieve to drain for 1-2 hours
- Flour – all purpose or cake/pastry flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Chocolate chips – unsweetened chocolate chips – I used mini chocolate chips
Why Use Room Temperature Ingredients?
Room temperature ingredients help to produce light tender baked good, in this case a cake. The ingredients will come together smoother with a lump free batter. Room temperature egg whites beat up fluffier. Be sure to remove the ingredients from the fridge 45-60 minutes before baking.
How to make a Ricotta Cake
In a large bowl beat the eggs and sugar for about 3 minutes, then add the vanilla and ricotta and combine. In a medium bowl whisk the flour, salt and baking powder. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and combine, the batter will be very thick.
Fold in the chocolate chips. Spoon into the prepared cake pan and bake until done, check with a toothpick, if it comes out dry or with a few crumb attached then the cake is done.
Let cool completely then dust with powdered sugar before serving.
What is Ricotta Cheese?
Ricotta is usually referred to as a cheese. Although it is actually a dairy product that is made through a process of reusing whey left over from the processing of other cheese.
The name Ricotta is derived from Latin, and refers to its processing – re-coctus, which means, cooked twice.
Therefore since it is not produced directly from the curd, but from one of its by-products, ricotta cannot be considered a real cheese.
Is it necessary to drain the Ricotta?
I didn’t drain the ricotta for this recipe, but my ricotta was quite thick. If you find that there is a lot of liquid, then drain the ricotta in a sieve for about 10 minutes before adding to the creamed mixture.
How To Make Cake Flour
For every cup of all purpose flour, remove two tablespoons and replace with two tablespoons of corn starch. Be sure to sift the flour and cornstarch together a couple of times, this way it is sure to be properly combined and lump free. Cake flour in cakes will give you a very tender texture and fine crumb, it will also help the cake to rise.
How to store a Ricotta Cake
The cake can be stored up to two days at room temperature. Make sure it is well wrapped or stored in an airtight container. Keeping it any longer and it should be refrigerated.
Can a Ricotta Cake be frozen?
Yes the cake can be frozen, be sure to wrap well in plastic wrap and place in an airtight container or freezer bag. It can be frozen for up to three months.
Be sure to remove the cake from the freezer bag or container before thawing, although you can leave it wrapped in plastic and thaw in the fridge over night.
How to prevent chocolate chips from sinking in a cake
To prevent the chocolate chips from sinking in your cake is very easy, just toss the chips with a little flour. I use one teaspoon of flour for every half cup of chips.
This little trick works with other additions from sinking too, such as nuts, dried fruits, and fresh berries. Just toss with a little flour before folding them into your cake, cupcake, or even muffin batter before baking.
More Delicious Italian Cakes
Italy, as everyone knows is going through a bit of a hard time, but as my husband says as he was eating a piece of this Ricotta Cake, “well at least we still have the food”. Enjoy!
Italian Chocolate Chip Ricotta Cake
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup ricotta room temperature
- 2 cups all-purpose flour or cake/pastry flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- ½ cup mini chocolate chips (unsweetened chips, milk chips or a mixture of both)
- 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
EXTRAS
- 3-4 tablespoons icing/powdered sugar (for dusting)
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350° (180°), grease and flour a 9 inch (22cm) cake pan or 9 1/2 inch (24cm) bundt pan.
- In a large bowl beat the eggs, yolk and sugar until creamy and light about 3-5 minutes. Then add the vanilla and ricotta beat to combine.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder. Add to the creamed mixture and mix just until combined (batter will be thick), fold in the mini chocolate chips*.
- Spoon into the prepared cake pan and bake for approximately 30-40 minutes, test with a toothpick for doneness. Let cool completely, then remove from the pan and dust with powdered sugar before serving. Enjoy!
*Toss the chocolate chips with one teaspoon of flour before adding, this prevents the chips from sinking in the batter while baking.
Notes
Nutrition
Updated from May 16, 2014.
Y family loved your cake. I haven’t had a cake that had that consistency. It was perfect. Thank you for posting.
Hi Karen, thanks so much, so glad everyone enjoyed it. Take care.
Hi I was just going to make this and you say In the recipe
2 cups (250grams ) but isn’t 2 cups 500 g
Hi Sharon, no 2 cups is 250 grams.
Tried this recipe using Kingston Arthur gf flour(1 to 1) and added an extra egg yolk and replaced the vanilla with lemon extract. Excellent and very easy to make.
Hi Rose, thanks so much, glad you enjoyed it. Take care.
I am making this cake for my 51 year old daughters. It is in the oven. Smells wonderful.
Hi Connie, Happy Birthday to your daughter, I hope you enjoy the cake. Have a wonderful Sunday.
This looks delicious, but there is not oil or butter in batter… is this a mistake??
Hi Jean, no it’s not a mistake, the ricotta is the fat in the recipe. 🙂
what kind of chocolate chips. thank you
Hi Sharyn, you can use unsweetened, milk or even a mix. Let me know how it goes.
Hi Sharyn, you can use either milk, unsweetened or even a mix if you prefer. Let me know how it goes.
Hi,
I saw this recipe on Facebook and decided to make it as I love Italian Cheese Cake. I thought it would be similar to that. I followed the recipe closely but I was a little disappointed that it seemed a little dry. It was not moist at all. I baked it for exactly 40 minutes, and I’m thinking I might have cooked it too long. Any suggestions for making it more moist?
Hi Lou, it could be that you baked it too long, next time try using 1 whole egg and 2 egg yolks. Let me know how it goes.
Thank you for the recipe! Sorry if i overlooked the answer elsewhere, but would this work in a loaf pan? If so, what is the suggested baking time? Thanks!
Hi Jessica, I think it would work in a loaf pan, a 9 inch pan would be the size. I think the same baking time would be about right, check after about 30 minutes. Let me know how it goes.
Simple to make cake but the baking – with – butter girl in me found the cake bland. The chocolate chips made it better.
This cake was delicious & so easy to put together! The trick with flouring the chocolate chips to keep them from sinking worked perfectly. My kids loved it. It’s so moist and tasty.
I’ll be making it again for sure. Thanks for a great recipe!
Hi Eileen, thanks so much, glad everyone enjoyed it. Take care.
I would love to make this in a mini-Bundt pan (6 bundtlettes) any idea how long to bake? Since it’s a thick batter would you recommend piping it into the Bundt pan?
Hi Merrilee, I would bake it for about 15-20 minutes but of course all oven are different, so check at 15. And piping would be a lot easier. Let me know how it goes.
Can this be frozen after baked?
Hi Janette, yes it can be frozen, I have instructions in the blog post on freezing and thawing. 🙂
Hi, I just made the Italian Chocolate Chip Ricotta Cake. It’s in the oven as we speak I had a time deciding between the Chocolate Chip Ricotta Crumb Cake and the Breakfast Ricotta Chocolate Chip Cake. I really liked the looks of them all but the crumb cake stood out but my fiancé wanted the other one. The only change I made was adding am 1/8 cup of butter and some tangerine peel and one teaspoon of Brandy because I always add that to my bake goods. lol I love your site by the way, it’s lovely! Thank you, I know how much effort goes into this. Thanks …
Hi Penny, thanks so much, so glad you enjoyed it. The crumb cake is really good too. Happy New Year.
Thank you for helping out, superb info.
Hi Marina, thanks, Happy New Year.
Made this exactly as directed. Came out perfect. Hubby loved it…so did I. Didn’t even let it totally cool….hubby couldn’t wait.. lol. Absolutely delicious. Very moist cake. Next time I might add some almond extract and hubby said maybe add some chopped walnuts. Thank you for a very comforting dessert.
Hi Blyn Babs, thanks so much, so glad you both enjoyed it. Adding nuts are a great idea. Take Care, Merry Christmas.