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This fresh melt-in-your-mouth ricotta cream uses only 3 ingredients, it’s ready in minutes and pairs beautifully with berries or shortbread cookies.

So easy, delicious and elegant it’s going to blow your mind!

Two small blue bowl full of ricotta cream garnished with chocolate bits and served with strawberries.

Jump to recipe

Ricotta cheese is definitely a staple in Italian cuisine, and I’ve already shared quite a few ricotta recipes including this collection of wonderful ricotta desserts that features lovely muffins, cakes and more!

Today I’m back with another super easy recipe inspired by the creamy cheese filling used for the iconic Sicilian cannoli.

But don’t let the simplicity fool you – this ricotta cream is so delicious, soft, fluffy, and perfect to please everyone!

All you need are 3 ingredients, a bowl and an electric whisk to make a ricotta cream that is slightly sweet, with notes of vanilla and bits of rich dark chocolate.

Spoon or pipe it into nice serving glasses or bowls and serve with beautiful fresh berries or crispy shortbread.

It’s a dessert you can whip up for dinner tonight, but it’s also an excellent make-ahead dessert for a fancy dinner (and it holds its shape!),

Want to make ricotta cream for a crowd? Simply double or triple the recipe, and you’ll have enough for a party. Enjoy.

List of the ingredients

Fresh ricotta
Powdered sugar
Vanilla extract (optional)
Dark chocolate

The ingredients to make the ricotta cream are arranged over a white background.

How to make fresh ricotta cream

(Note: this is a quick description, the full recipe is at the bottom of the page)

Place the fresh ricotta in a clean tea towel, roll up the towel and twist to squeeze out the excess water.
Transfer ricotta to a bowl, add sugar, vanilla extract and whip until soft and smooth. You can use a food processor or an electric whisk.

Two images showing some ricotta on a tea towel and a glass bowl with whipped ricotta.

Fold in the chocolate bits using a spatula, or spoon or pipe the ricotta cream into serving glasses and sprinkle the chocolate bits on top.
Enjoy with fresh strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and crispy cookies on the side!

Note: use a large plain piping nozzle to pipe ricotta cream and chocolate bits.

Top view of two blue bowls full of ricotta cream served with strawberries.

Recipe notes

Ricotta cream ingredients

Ricotta: for the best flavor and texture, use whole milk ricotta cheese, but keep in mind all ricotta is not equal – some brands are good and others not so good. Taste your ricotta and make sure you like it, you don’t want to use dry and tasteless ricotta cheese for this dessert.

Powdered sugar: I recommend using powder sugar that dissolves easily (icing sugar for my UK readers). But regular sugar is fine if it’s all you have on hand.

Vanilla extract: for flavor, but I leave it optional.

Dark chocolate: use good quality chocolate to make this simple dessert absolutely scrumptious. You can use chocolate chips or you can simple finely cut chocolate bar using a sharp knife. I prefer small bits of chocolate rather than chips, they look elegant and are evenly distributed.

How to store Ricotta cream?

This ricotta cream can be made up to 24 hours in advance and then stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve it. You can also make single servings and keep the glasses/bowls covered with plastic wrap.

Close-up of a spoon full of ricotta cream with shredded chocolate.

More ricotta recipes?

This fresh Italian cheese is brilliant for sweet or savoury recipes, from scrumptious quick pasta dishes to moist cakes, and more. And if you have ricotta leftovers, check out these amazing recipes:

If you make this easy ricotta cream or if you have a question, let me know! Leave a comment, rate it or tag a photo #theclevermeal on Instagram. I would love to hear from you!

Print Recipe

Ricotta Cream

This fresh melt-in-your-mouth ricotta cream uses only 3 ingredients, it's ready in minutes and goes beautifully with berries or shortbread cookies. So easy, delicious and elegant it’s going to blow your mind!

Recipe yields 4 small servings.

Prep Time5

Total Time5

Course: desserts

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: Ricotta cream

Servings:

Calories: 211kcal

Author: Katia

Ingredients

1 cup (approx 250 grams) ricotta cheese*
5 tablespoon powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
3 tablespoons 70% Dark Chocolate, shredded or chips

Instructions

First thing, place the fresh ricotta onto a clean tea towel, fold it and twist gently but firmly to squeeze out excess moisture.
Place the squeezed ricotta in a bowl, add powdered sugar, vanilla extract and whisk with an electric beater for 1-2 minutes until fluffy. Alternatively, combine ricotta with the other ingredients in a food processor and blizz until smooth.
Once the ricotta cream is ready you can fold in the dark chocolate bits, of you can transfer the ricotta cream into small serving bowl using a spoon or a piping bag and garnish with the shredded or grated dark chocolate , or chocolate chips if you like.
Serve cold or at room temperature with fresh berries or shortbread cookies if desired. Enjoy.

Notes

Ricotta: the recipe uses a bit more than ½ lb (250 grams to be more precise, which is the weight for standard ricotta container in Europe), but it’s a flexible recipe so there’s no need to weight the ingredients with a kitchen scale.

Nutrition facts: the nutrition values are for one portion only and are based on an online nutrition calculator. It’s an estimate only and it should not be considered as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. Please see my disclosure policies.

Nutrition

Thank you!