Chocolate Ricotta Pound Cake

One of the perks of working from home is that I get to use my lunch break to try out new recipes. I had some ricotta cheese left over from another recipe I tried out over the weekend and needed something to make with it. I love all things chocolate so this sounded like the perfect recipe to try out. 

I didn’t have a fancy Dutch-processed cocoa powder, so I just used the Nestle cocoa powder that was already in the house and I didn’t want to take another trip to the grocery store. This made the color a bit lighter and I think the taste a bit sweeter. I also changed around the directions and did my dry ingredients first since they are not affected by the temperature in the house and it means I can get a few things off the counter and put away. The Ricotta cheese kept the inside of the cake extremely moist which made it extra delicious.

Chocolate Ricotta Pound Cake
makes one 6-cup fluted cake mold (I used a larger budnt cake pan I already had)

Ingredients:
4 ½ Tbsp Dutch-processed cocoa powder (or 3 Tbsp Dutch-processed + 1 ½ Tbsp black cocoa)
4 Tbsp boiling water
3 eggs
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cups All Purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
13 Tbsp butter, at room temperature
1 cup ricotta (mine was part-skim)
1 cup sugar

Powdered sugar to dust on top

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Grease and flour the cake mold.

2. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a bowl, mix together the cocoa powder and boiling water until thoroughly combined.  Let cool to room temperature.

4. Once the chocolate mixture has cooled, whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract.  Set aside.

5. In a mixer bowl, cream together on medium to medium high the butter, ricotta, and sugar until light and fluffy, about three minutes.  Add the wet and dry ingredients in three stages, alternating wet and dry.  Mix until combined.

6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.  Bake for 40-50 minutes total.  About twenty minutes into baking, cover the cake with a lightly oiled piece of aluminum foil.  Continue to bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

7. Remove from oven and let cool, turning the cake out onto a wire rack after about ten minutes.  Let cool completely.  Top with a light dusting of powdered sugar.

Source: Desserts for Breakfast