Absolutely moist cake with light crumb, nice almond flavor and intense chocolate ganache frosting. This Almond Ricotta Chocolate Cake is worthy of all the praise you are going to get when you serve it. Absolutely delicious in every bite, heaven.

It’s the Holiday season! The season of giving and sharing, so I why not make this Almond Ricotta Chocolate Cake and share it with your friends and family. If you are looking for a simple and delicious dessert to serve for your holiday get together, you just found it. This chocolate cake is super moist and decadent, delicious and super easy to make. Easy is what we all need especially during the holiday season, and this my friends is really easy. Who wants to spend more time in the kitchen when you can spend your time dining with friends.

What I Love About This Cake

• Simple and easy to make
• Soft and moist
• Light crumb
• Intense chocolate flavor

What Can I Do with Leftover Ricotta Cheese?

Ricotta cheese is one thing that I usually buy, unless I have specific recipe in mind. They don’t come in small size, at least here in Canada it’s about a pint size which I find a lot for use in just one recipe, unless I am making a huge batch which I rarely do. So if you are thinking where else you can use Ricotta cheese, do not worry because I have few of my favorite recipes that uses Ricotta Cheese.

• Meaty Lasagna
• Vegetarian Lasagna
• Ricotta Pound Cake
• Glazed Ricotta Cheese Loaf
• Lemon Ricotta Cookie

Not a Fan of Chocolate Cake?

Not a fan of chocolate cake? No problem, I got you covered.  Check out my Ricotta Pound Cake and Glazed Ricotta Cheese Loaf. They are as easy and simple as this cake, and they taste absolutely delicious.

Ingredients for Almond Ricotta Chocolate Cake

• Butter – provides creamy taste
• Sugar – for sweetness
• Egg – binds the ingredients together and give structure to the cake. Make sure to have the egg at room temperature. Take it out of the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before using, or submerge it in warm water for 10 minutes.
• Ricotta Cheese – provides a creamy taste and adds moisture to the cake. Make sure to have the Ricotta cheese at room temperature as well. Take it out of the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before using.
• Yogurt – known for adding moisture to the bake products. Can be substituted with Sour Cream. Make sure to have the Yogurt or sour cream at room temperature as well. Take it out of the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before using
• Oil – Makes the cake soft and moist even when stored in the refrigerator. Do not use any strong flavored oil, stick to flavorless oil.
• All-Purpose Flour – This is the base dry ingredient that will give structure to the cake.
• Almond Flour – This adds a nice almond flavor and nice texture to the cake. This makes the crumb slightly loose and crumbly, like a cake.
• Cocoa Powder – For chocolate flavor.
• Baking Soda & Baking Powder – acts as leavening agent to make the cake rise.
• Milk – This gives lighter crumb to the cake. Without the milk, the cake batter could end up being dense.
• Salt – This adds taste, balances sweetness and it is always good to add salt to any bake products. This is the most basic and simple way to enhance the taste of the cake.

How to Make Chocolate Almond Ricotta Cake

Here’s a quick summary of how to make this loaf cake, the full details are just below in the Instructions section. Check it out.

• Wet Ingredients: Cream butter, sugar and egg: all ingredients must be in room temperature so that it creams better. Take the butter out from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes to 1 hour before using it. When you press your fingers on the butter, it should create a dent but it should not be melting and oily. Add ricotta cheese and yogurt – room temperature as well. Take them out from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes to 1 hour before using it.
• Sift and Mix all dry ingredients together. This aerates the flour and produces a lighter crumb.
• Dry + Wet Ingredients: Add dry ingredients with wet ingredients alternately with milk and oil. Gradual addition makes the mixing easier thus avoiding over mixing.
• Pour and Bake Different oven have different settings so watch out for the baking time. Start with the suggested baking time, then push the baking tray slightly forward and backward, the batter should not move. If the center ‘wiggle’ when the tray is pushed, bake additional 5 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Tips for a Soft and Moist Almond Ricotta Chocolate Cake

• Room Temperature Ingredients  – this rule is basic when making cake, cookies, cupcakes, bars and other baked products that requires creaming or intense mixing to make the consistency light and fluffy. Room temperature ingredients Mix easily together. Leave the ingredients at the counter top at least 30 minutes to 1 hour before using it. Time could vary depending on the temperature and humidity in you kitchen. For butter, when you press it with you thumb it should create an indention without any extra push effort.
  creaming butter, sugar and egg: this process creates air into the mixture thus making the cake lighter and less dense
• Mix of Butter and Oil –  although using pure butter is more delicious, using both provides a balance of nice taste and good moisture in the cake. The oil specially makes the cake moist and the butter provides creamy taste. Using all butter could dry out the cake easily specially when store in the refrigerator because butter hardens. Using all oil coil make the loaf to wet and greasy, so a combination of both is the way to go.
• Sifting the Dry Ingredients: Aerates the mixture thus resulting to a lighter crumb.

These are just 3 simple tips, simple enough to follow and will give you a higher success rate in making a lighter and moist Almond Ricotta Chocolate Cake. Let’s put them into practice. Ok, it’s now time to put all what we’ve learned into action. Let’s get started!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup All-Purpose Flour
• 1/4 cup Cocoa Powder
• 1/4 cup Almond Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/4 cup unsalted Butter – room temperature (soft but not melted)
• 1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
• 1/4 cup Greek Yogurt or Sour Cream
• 1/2 cup Ricotta Cheese – completely drained, excess water removed and at room temperature
• 1 Egg – room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
• 1/4 cup Milk – room temperature (Warm in microwave for 15 seconds if coming form refrigerator)
• 3 tablespoon flavorless Oil
• 1/3 cup Chocolate Ganache
• 1/4 cup sliced Almonds – for decoration (optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and position a rack in the center. Grease a 7-inch round pan with nonstick spray (or melted butter or oil) and line with parchment paper.
2. Mix Dry Ingredients: In a medium bowl, sift all purpose flour, almond flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. Mix Wet Ingredients: In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar on medium speed until smooth and light, about 5 minutes. The texture should look somewhat like a thick white whipped cream. Reduce speed to low and add ricotta cheese and yogurt or sour cream. Continue mixing for another 1 minute or until just combined. Beat in the egg, it may curdle a little bit at this point, don’t worry about it, it will adjust once you add the dry ingredients. Add vanilla extract and mix until just distributed.
4. Add Dry Ingredients and Milk+ Oil Mixture alternately:  Combine oil and milk. In low low speed, sift 1/2 of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients mixture. Mix for about 15 seconds then add 1/2 of the milk and oil mixture, continue mixing for another 15 seconds. Scrape down sides of the bowl, sift the remaining half of the dry ingredients, mix for another 15 seconds then add remaining milk and oil mixture and mix for another 15 seconds or just until everything is combined.  Do not over mix as it could toughen the cake.
   • Sifting the flour while adding it gradually to the butter mixture will help the cake have a lighter texture and will also make the mixing easier thus avoiding over mixing. So don’t just dump the dry ingredients all at once.
5. Pour Batter into prepared pan and use a spatula to smooth the top or move the tray back and forth and side ways. This will level the top.
6. Bake cake for 30-35 minutes or until the cake springs back lightly when touched, the sides have begun to pull away from the pan, and a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
7. Cool: Allow cake to cool completely before pouring the Chocolate Ganache or any desired frosting.
8. Decorate: Pour Chocolate Ganache on top (or any frosting you prefer) then scatter sliced almonds on the sides. Top with fresh Strawberry (optional).

Serves 6 – 8

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