Chocolate Ricotta Cake
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You’ll love this chocolate ricotta cake! It’s ultra-moist, overwhelmingly fudgy, and full of fabulous chocolate flavor. Serve it slightly warm for the ultimate melt-in-your-mouth texture. It’s DELISH!
The perfect dessert for Mother’s Day and the upcoming celebrations.
Why have I waited so long to bring you this incredible Italian chocolate cake with ricotta? I have no idea. I’ve been making this ricotta dessert for YEARS, and it’s also one of my favorite chocolate cake recipes of all time.
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It’s truly amazing, decadent, absolutely perfect for my chocolate cravings!
I love baking with ricotta. It adds plenty of moisture, making a rich and dense crumb. Its flavor and subtle tanginess pair wonderfully with dark chocolate, making a cake with an incredible texture and a deep chocolate flavor that will make you jump for joy, seriously.
It tastes delish when served warm and deliciously soft, with fresh berries or a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. It’s the perfect dessert to impress your guests.
And if you think about it hard enough, there’s probably a good reason to go to your kitchen and make this chocolate ricotta cake right now!
List of the ingredients
- Ricotta
- Dark chocolate
- Cocoa powder
- Eggs
- Sugar
- Butter
- Flour
- Vanilla extract
- Instant coffee (optional)
- Baking powder + salt
How to make chocolate ricotta cake
(Note: this is a quick description; the full recipe is at the bottom of the page)
- Before you start, melt the butter and the chocolate, and mix flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
- Beat eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy. To incorporate air into the batter, I recommend using a stand mixer or an electric beater.
- Next, add the vanilla extract, ricotta cheese, melted butter, and chocolate. Beat until smooth.
- Add the flour mixture, followed by hot water/coffee. Beat until combined.
- As you can see, the batter is not thin but fluffy and soft—you would be tempted to eat it straight from the bowl! Transfer it to a cake pan and bake for 30 minutes. Let’s check the full recipe below!
Recipe Notes
Chocolate Ricotta Cake Ingredients
Sugar + eggs: You can use caster or fine sugar, but regular or light brown sugar also works well. Either medium-sized or large eggs are fine, too. You’ll want to beat them until pale.
Whole-milk ricotta cheese: Either standard ricotta sealed in containers or fresh ricotta from the deli counter works fine. It brings acidity, moisture, and tanginess.
Dark chocolate + cocoa powder: Better quality ingredients, better results! I recommend using good-quality 70% dark chocolate and unsweetened cocoa powder for the best flavor.
Butter: Traditionally, I’ve always made the recipe using unsalted butter.
Vanilla extract + salt: Vanilla extract is an essential ingredient for cakes, while a touch of salt brings out other flavors.
Flour + baking powder: All-purpose or cake flour and self-raising flour (skip the baking powder) give great results.
Hot water/coffee: The hot water added to the batter helps the chocolate flavor bloom; don’t skip it. Although I leave it optional, the combination of hot water + instant coffee results in a fluffier crumb and a deeper chocolate flavor (but you won’t taste the coffee, I promise!).
Storage tips
This ricotta chocolate cake keeps well and moist for up to 3 days at room temperature, stored in an airtight container. It freezes beautifully: wrap the cake or slices in clingfilm (plastic wrap), store in an airtight container, and freeze for up to 1 month. To serve it, thaw it in the refrigerator overnight and let it come to room temperature. It’s best when it’s slightly warm, so I recommend microwaving for a few seconds until soft and to die for.
More ricotta cake recipes you’ll love!
- Strawberry ricotta cake
- Raspberry ricotta cake
- Ricotta muffins
- Ricotta cream
- Easy cake with ricotta
- Lemon ricotta muffins
- Almond ricotta cake
- Blueberry ricotta cake
Lastly, if you make this delicious chocolate ricotta cake or have any questions, just let me know in the comments or rate the recipe. I would love to hear from you!
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Chocolate Ricotta Cake
Ingredients
- 3 medium-sized eggs
- ⅔ cup (135 grams) sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup (250 grams) full-fat ricotta cheese
- ½ cup (115 grams) Unsalted butter, melted
- 3.5 oz (100 grams) Dark chocolate bar, melted
- 1 cup (120 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoon (15 grams) cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) hot water
- ½ tablespoon instant coffee (optional)
Instructions
- Prep the ingredients: Before you begin, melt the butter and the chocolate (instructions at the bottom of the recipe) and combine flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder in a bowl. Set aside.
- Preheat your oven to 355°F/180°C and place a rack in the middle position. Next, line the bottom of a spring-form cake pan (22cm/9 inches Ø) with parchment paper. You can also generously grease the sides and bottom of the pan with butter and flour, shaking out excess flour. Set aside.
- Make the batter: Beat the eggs and sugar for 4 minutes until pale and fluffy. I recommend using a stand mixer or an electric beater. Reduce the speed, add vanilla extract, ricotta, melted chocolate, and butter, and beat until smooth. Finally, add the dry ingredients and hot water/coffee (if using instant coffee, stir it into the water). Beat until combined and no flour pockets are visible. The batter is not thin but should be smooth and fluffy, like a cream.
- Bake: Transfer the batter to the prepared cake pan, level the surface with the back of a spoon, and bake for 30 minutes without opening the door during baking. After 30 minutes, insert a toothpick or cake tester into the batter in the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, the cake is ready.
- Transfer it immediately to a wire rack and let it cool for 10 minutes. Next, remove it gently from the pan and transfer it to a serving plate. It's delicious when it's served slightly warm, dusted with powdered sugar, and even better with fresh berries or vanilla ice cream on the side. Enjoy!
Delicious. I enjoyed how it wasn’t overly sweet.
That’s lovely to hear! Thanks so much for rating the recipe, Jim. x
The cake was delicious but I am wondering, should it rise at all? Because mine did not rise, not even a tiny bit. It still tastes good but I was thinking it was kind of thin.
Hi Keri! The cake is supposed to rise, but not that much as the texture is quite fudgy, and it doesn’t look fluffy like a cake.
Have you used a 22cm/9 inches Ø cake pan? BTW, I’m glad you liked all that chocolate flavor. : )
can I half the recipe and make it into cupcakes
Hi Lisa, yes you can.
Please, adjust the baking time accordingly. I recommed checking for doneness with a cake tester (or toothpick) after 15 minutes. x
After two days in the freezer, this cake was even better! Thank you.
That’s great to hear! I would love a slice of this cake with my cup of coffee right now. : )
Thanks so much for sharing. x
Cake was delish. I brought eggs and ricotta to room temperature. I find this the most important step when baking. Thanks for recipe. Loved your healthy yoghurt cake also. Topped it with fresh blueberries and shivered almonds. Very Yum
That’s wonderful to hear, Chris! Thanks for sharing. x
Hi Genevieve, sorry to hear yours was still underbaked. I don’t know what happened there and if you measured the ingredients correctly.
But I guarantee the recipe has been tested properly and it works, and the baking time is correct. Perhaps you might to keep it max 5 minutes longer in the oven if needed (that depends on the oven as usual), but it’s not that runny in the center like yours after 30 minutes in the oven (assuming the ingredients are correct, the oven temp right, and the oven door is kept closed during the baking time). Let me know if you have any questions, happy to help. x
Question- I was in process of making this cake. When I measured the flour in grams, it seemed much more than 1/2 cup. I thought 1/2 cup was about 65 g of flour. Was this meant to mean 1 cup? I was unsure so I added a couple tbsp to 1/2 cup measure. Cake is in oven now so I don’t know how it will taste. Please clarify.
Dear Jonidee, unfortunately that was a typo that I’ve just amended! The recipe uses 1 cup – you were right. I do apologise for the confusion. x