Recipe ideas come from everywhere. The flavor combination from a restaurant dish gets me thinking or an idea on social media inspires me. The seasons, obviously, and holidays. What I stumble across at a farmers market or grocery store. And sometimes just out of the clear blue. Such is the case with this cake. I really don’t know where the idea came from – maybe I was trying to conjure a dessert for an Italian meal. I just one day started mulling the idea of a Bundt cake inspired by Italian cannoli. I knew it needed to include a base of ricotta, with shards of chocolate and a hint of cinnamon. Maybe some olive oil to keep things moist? And I love baking with buttermilk for a nice tender crumb. A sugar coating on the pan to give it a little crunchy crust? And as I continued to roll the idea around in my mind, I realized a chocolate glaze studded with nuts would be the perfect finishing touch. I googled some recipes for traditional Italian cannoli and saw many versions with pistachios sprinkled on the ends, so that decided that. And more chocolate – why not? To be honest, I even surprised myself with just how good this is. It has this delightful springy texture shot through with bittersweet chocolate and a whisper of cinnamon, vanilla and almond. And the glaze with crunchy pistachios takes it to the next level.
Whole milk ricotta and whole buttermilk will give you the tenderest crumb, and the olive oil shouldn’t be an expensive extra-virgin that you would use for drizzling. A more neutral flavor is better and adds lots of moistness. I prefer to have irregular, but small, shards of chocolate in the cake, so I use bars that I chop with a knife. You could use mini chocolate chips if you must, but they are not that great for the glaze so you might as well stick with the bars (I like Guittard). I use this 10 -cup Bundt pan, which makes a perfect lovely cake ready for the beautiful glaze. Covered on the counter, this cake will stay delicious for several days.
Ingredients
- For the Cake
1 ½ cups granulated sugar, plus ¼ cup for the pan
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
¼ cup olive oil
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3 large eggs
1 cup whole ricotta
½ cup whole buttermilk
1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
- For the Glaze
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate (plus some for topping)
¾ cups heavy cream
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ cup unsalted shelled pistachios, very finely chopped
Directions
- For the Cake
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 10-cup Bundt pan with baking spray such Bakers’ Joy, dabbing any that pools in the bottom with a paper towel. Sprinkle ¼ cup granulated sugar in the pan and tilt and shake to coat the pan evenly.
- Chop the chocolate into fine pieces and set aside.
- Melt the butter in a small bowl or measuring jug in the microwave. Add the olive oil, vanilla and almond extracts and stir well.
- Beat the eggs in a large bowl to break them up, then add the ricotta and buttermilk and whisk to combine. Add the sugar and stir to combine completely. Stir in the melted butter mix and stir to combine. Sprinkle over the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and fold into the batter, just until there are almost no streaks of dry ingredients. Add in the chopped chocolate and fold to distribute evenly and the dry ingredients are no longer visible. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 40 – 50 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then carefully invert the cake onto the rack and set it over a piece of parchment or foil to catch drips from the glaze. Shake the pan to release, then cool completely.
- For the Glaze
- Chop the 5 ounces of chocolate into pieces and place in a small bowl with the cinnamon. Heta the cream in a small saucepan on the stove and when there are gentle tiny bubbles all over the surface, pour it over the chocolate in the bowl. Leave to sit for 3 – 4 minutes, then whisk until smooth and thick. Spoon the glaze over the cake slowly, letting it drip down the sides. You can spoon any large drips from the paper to the top again. While the glaze is soft and wet, sprinkle over some very finely chopped chocolate and pistachios. Cool completely. The cake will keep, covered, on the counter for three days.
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