Cannoli Cake

Cannoli is a sweet cheese filling usually filled in a deep fried tubes. Cannoli can be of different kinds and flavours. I baked a orange flavoured cake and layered this filling and frosted the cake with some whipped cream for my husbands birthday... He loved it. There are many ways to make this cake, my husband loves the citrus taste, so i used a lot of orange in the cake. So here goes the recipe, bake and enjoy.

Prep time: 45 mins

Bake time: 40 mins

Decoration time: 40 mins

Servings: 12 to 16

Ingredients:

1. Eggs - 4
2. Sugar - 3/4 Cup
3. All-purpose flour - 1 cup
4. Butter or margarine - 1/2 cup /(1 stick) melted and cooled

6. Orange juice - 2 tsp

7. Orange zest* - 2 tsp

8. Baking Powder - 2 tsp

9. Salt - 1 pinch

10. Orange\vanilla\Almond essence - 2 tsp

11. Orange chopped into little bits - 3 tsp (optional)
12.  Ricotta Filling - given below

13. Whipped Cream Frosting - given below


Read here on how to chop orange from.

Ricotta Filling:

1. Ricotta Cheese (Skim milk)- 2 cups (15 oz.)
2. Sugar - 3 Tbsp.
3. Vanilla essence - 1-1/2 tsp.
4. Heavy cream - 1 cup, whipped
5. Semi sweet mini chocolate chips - 1 cup

Whipped Cream Frosting:

1. Heavy cream - 2 cups
2. Powdered sugar - 2 Tbsp.
3. Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp.

Method:

To bake the cake:

1. Take flour, baking soda and salt, sieve them twice and keep aside. 

2. Break the eggs into a big container in which you can prepare the cake batter, beat them till they get very frothy. 

3. Add little sugar and beat till it's well incorporated, do it till all the sugar is mixed well. Now Add the essence and zest*, beat well. Add the butter in small portions and beat well till all of it gets well incorporated.

4. Now add the flour mixture in 4 batches. Every time you add, make sure you mix it well in the liquid mixture. Grease* and dust* a 8 inch round baking pan and pour the cake batter into it. Do not rub the mixture down in the pan to spread it evenly. Instead, hold the pan with both hands and pat it down on a flat surface so that the mixture spreads evenly. Preheat* the oven to 350F/ 180C, place the pan on the middle rack of the oven and let it bake for 40 minutes. You will know it is done when you insert a tooth pick or a thin stick into the middle of the cake and it comes out dry and clean.

5. Let the cake cool completely before you do any thing else with it.

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.

To make Whipped Cream Frosting: Beat cream on high speed in bowl with electric mixer until soft peaks form. Beat in sugar and vanilla.

To layer and frost: 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. 

Tips:

1. You may add a few orange fruit bits to the cake. To do that, chop the orange into small bits, take a tsp of flour and lightly mix these bits into it. This will ensure all the bits are evenly spread in the mixture, or all of them will deposit in the bottom of the cake.
2. Do not use egg substitute for this cake, makes the cake slightly hard and it also has a funny chemical taste.

* Please refer glossary