Mocha Chocolate Cake with Ricotta Chocolate Frosting

A delicious chocolate cake that is dense and chocolaty. Recipe for whole milk ricotta is at the end of this recipe.

Makes one 10” cake

2/3 cup hot strong coffee

4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1/3 cup dark rum (kahlua also works nicely)

 

½ cup whole milk ricotta cheese

½ cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

 

¾ cup butter, room temperature

1 ¾ cup sugar

2 eggs

 

2 ¼ cup flour

1 ½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

 

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 10” springform pan. Line the bottom with waxed paper and grease the paper.

Pour the hot coffee over the chopped chocolate and stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Add the rum, stir and set aside to cool slightly.

In a small bowl, whisk together the ricotta, milk and vanilla. Set aside. In another small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter and sugar until well mixed. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well. Scrape bowl and beat another few seconds. Add all the ricotta-milk-vanilla mixture and beat well. Mixture may curdle slightly.

Add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the chocolate-coffee mixture, and beginning and ending with the flour. Transfer batter to the prepared pan. Pan will be quite full of batter. You can also use three 8” pans as well.

Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. (smaller pans will bake much faster). Let cake cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan to cool on a wire rack. When cool, frost the outside and top with the ricotta chocolate frosting (recipe below).

Ricotta Chocolate Frosting

Makes enough icing to frost the sides and top of a 10” cake.

½ cup whole milk ricotta cheese

½ cup butter, room temperature

3 cups icing sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 oz melted unsweetened chocolate, cooled slightly

Beat together the ricotta cheese, butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract. Beat in the melted chocolate.

Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese

After making your own ricotta, you’ll be hard pressed to go back to the store-bought salty stuff. The texture and flavour of this cheese is divine. And you’ll spend less than an hour making it.

Makes about 2 cups

8 cups 3.25% homogenized milk (not 2% or skim)

1 cup 35% whipping cream

¼ cup white vinegar or lemon juice (lemon juice will give a tangy taste to the cheese)

1 tsp kosher salt

In a large pot, heat the milk and cream over medium-high heat, gently stirring with a spatula from time to time, until an instant-read thermometer reaches between 165°F and 185°F. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the salt. Gradually drizzle in the vinegar while gently stirring the mixture. The milk and cream will begin to curdle immediately. Stop stirring and let the mixture sit undisturbed for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, line a colander with two layers of cheesecloth. Set over a large bowl. Gently scoop the curds into the colander. Let drain for 30 minutes. Save the whey to make bread or discard. Remove the cheese from the cheesecloth and refrigerate until ready to use. Rinse the cheesecloth to reuse for making your next batch.

The cheese can be drained longer if a stiffer cheese is desired.