I’m one of those people who just thinks of eating a cannoli and simply falls into a coma of dessert ecstasy…you know what I mean, that crispy, fried exterior shell filled with a ricotta custard cream lightly scented with a little oranges zest and trimmed with shards of dark chocolate at both ends…just heaven.
It doesn’t take much to get me thinking of how I can translate some of the more traditional type of desserts into a unique and delicious cake flavor that will have everyone dancing around the dessert table vying for a huge slice.
Today I used my yellow cake base which is available for purchase in our E-shop, and swirled in a rich ricotta custard cream and chunks of a really good quality dark chocolate before I baked the cake. The recipe I used for the filling is the same one I use for my cream cheese swirl that I bake into many of my cakes, but I just swapped out the cream cheese for a really thick ricotta…it’s important to be thick and not runny and loose. I also added a little orange zest to achieve more of a traditional flavor, but you can just leave the vanilla as your primary flavor if you prefer. They key for this dessert is to use a really good dark chocolate…it makes a world of difference in the flavor of the cake. A good quality dark chocolate will also stay very creamy after it has baked. The cake base is so moist but sturdy enough to have fillings baked into it. If you choose to use your own recipe, make sure that the recipe is not thin or the fillings will sink to the bottom.
Oh…and one more thing.
Leave the gun…but take the cannoli cream cake…
Sorry, I had to…
Cannoli Cream Cake (makes 1-12”x18” pan)
1 recipe yellow cake base
1 recipe cream cheese swirl (replace the cream cheese with ricotta cheese and add 1 tablespoon orange zest)
2-3 cups finely chopped dark chocolate chips
Make the ricotta custard filling and set aside. Cut up the chocolate and set this aside as well. Make the cake base according to the instructions and pour the batter into a paper line cake pan. Scoop out the ricotta filling and scatter all over the top of the cake. Next add the chocolate on top of this and swirl everything into the cake batter. Bake this for 30-40 minutes in a preheated 350°F oven until slightly golden brown on the top. Allow to cool completely before you slice.
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