Cannoli Cake

This cake was absolute heaven!  Since my daughter's first birthday I have become a cake making enthusiast.  I love to bake and design things and found working with fondant was rather fun.  I made my daughter's 1st birthday cake and after it turned out so well, I decided to try my hand at making more cakes for practice.  When my friend told me she was having a baby I offered to make her baby shower cake to practice my new hobby and she was ecstatic.  She is Italian and requested cannoli filling in her cake if I could manage it.  Well, I did even better and found a whole cake flavored like a cannoli!  Due to all the cream and ricotta in the filling and whipped frosting, I stored this cake in the fridge and I have to say that it tasted even better after a day in the fridge. 

My daughter's cake- my 1st attempt at fondant!

I'll be making her formal baby shower cake this weekend in the shape of a puppy.  The pictures here are of the test cake complete with brown dye fail on the top of the cake.  This whipped frosting disintegrated when mixed with food color gel, so I will be using a Swiss buttercream on the outside of the cake before covering in fondant.  If you don't need to tint the frosting the whipped frosting in this recipe was absolute heaven! 

Recipe is courtesy of http://www.sargento.com/.

Ingredients

• 4 eggs (it's best if eggs are at room temp before adding sugar)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted and cooled
• 1/4 cup chopped semisweet chocolate
• 1 recipe Ricotta Filling
• 1 recipe Whipped Cream Frosting
• Fresh berries or candied cherries, for garnish

Ricotta Filling:

• 2 cups (15 oz.) Sargento® Part-Skim Ricotta Cheese
• 3 Tbsp. sugar (I actually added double the sugar to get the filling a bit sweeter, but I have a huge sweet tooth!)
• 1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup whipping cream, whipped
• 1 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips

Whipped Cream Frosting:

• 2 cups whipping cream
• 2 Tbsp. confectioners sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

 Directions

1. Beat eggs and sugar on medium speed in bowl with an electric mixer 5 minutes or until thick. Gently fold in flour and butter; pour into greased and floured 8-inch round cake pan. Bake in preheated 350°F oven 40 minutes or until cake feels firm when touched in center. Cool in pan 5 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.
2. To make Ricotta Filling: Beat Ricotta cheese, sugar and vanilla on medium speed in bowl with electric mixer 3 minutes. Fold in whipped cream and chocolate chips.
3. To make Whipped Cream Frosting: Beat cream on high speed in bowl with electric mixer until soft peaks form. Beat in sugar and vanilla.
4. Cut cake in half horizontally using sharp serrated knife. Cut each layer in half again horizontally. Place 1 layer on serving platter; spread with one-third Ricotta filling. Repeat procedure, ending with cake layer. No sooner than 6 hours before serving, frost sides and top of cake with all but 1 cup frosting. Decorate with remaining frosting, chopped chocolate and fruit. Refrigerate until serving time.