Chocolate Ricotta Cake
Cassola
I love the silky, smooth texture of this chocolate ricotta cake. A Jewish Roman treat known locally as cassola
Baked ricotta is a classic Italian dessert in-between cake and custard. It resembles a French flan, which is also made from an egg and dairy cream without flour, butter or leavening.
While the traditional crostata di ricotta from Campania, Lucania and Sicily is encased in a shortcrust pastry, the Roman cassola is a baked ricotta pancake. It was originally a Jewish dessert made for Hanukkah, but over the centuries the recipe has been adopted by the Catholic community in Rome, as a traditional Christmas treat.
In this case, I have flavoured the ricotta cake with chocolate chips, but you can also try making it with lemon, oranges, rum, cinnamon, raisins or candied cherries.
Ingredients
500 g ricotta
3 eggs
120 g sugar
A pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla sugar
1 tbsp potato starch
50 g dark chocolate
Powdered sugar for dusting
Preparation
Whisk egg and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Stir vanilla, salt and potato starch into the egg and sugar mixture.
Add the ricotta and stir to make a smooth cream.
Chop the dark chocolate in tiny pieces and fold them into the ricotta cream.
Line a 22 cm baking tin with parchment paper.
Pour the ricotta mixture into the tin and bake at 170 C / 340 F for 25 minutes until the cassola has become golden brown along the edges.
Leave the chocolate ricotta cake to cool, before transferring it the the fridge.
Let it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours before serving.
Cassola in this version is a baked ricotta custard with nice chunks of dark chocolate
Italian Notes
could I separate the egg whites and beat them and combine later for a souflee-like texture?
I don’t see why not, though I have never had that kind of lift in a ricotta cake.