There’s no doubt that the easiest way to start the day with energy and joy is by having a hearty breakfast. At least it is for me! And what could be better than enjoying homemade products like slices of sandwich bread with jam, or a delicious treat like my Fluffy Chocolate Cake with Ricotta and Orange, accompanied by a nice coffee (with milk… I can’t do without it!). I won’t deny that sometimes I like to eat something savory, but my favorite breakfast is sweet. Every day has to be different, just like the other main meals, so I get tired of the same old cookies or the same slice of bread and jam. In fact, it’s the desire to change that mostly spawns my cakes. These days, in addition to the oranges from the little tree in our garden (which, although young, already bears its beautiful fruits), I always find myself with plenty of oranges at home given by friends and relatives. It’s no coincidence that it’s one of the fruits that best represents this beautiful Sicily!
After trying the good result of the Coffee Cake with Orange-Flavored Mascarpone, I thought about what else I could pair with this wonderful fruit. And ricotta and chocolate came to mind, the latter ingredient I like to use because my son, as I’ve mentioned in some other recipe, loves chocolaty desserts!
Here is my recipe, very simple to execute, with which you will get a very tasty Fluffy Chocolate Cake, with a light hint of oranges that makes it an exceptional dessert. I used a 20 cm (8-inch) diameter springform pan, but you can also make it using a small loaf pan or a bundt pan.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 8-10 servings
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: International
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter, and Spring
Ingredients for Fluffy Chocolate Cake with Ricotta and Orange
- 3 eggs (medium-sized)
- 220 g sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 250 g ricotta
- 100 g peanut oil
- 250 g all-purpose flour
- 25 g homemade baking powder (Or 1 packet of baking powder)
- 25 g unsweetened cocoa powder (Or the same weight of dark chocolate, melted and cooled)
- 3 tablespoons milk (For the cocoa batter and to avoid if using dark chocolate)
- 1 orange zest (Grated)
- as needed butter (To grease the pan)
- as needed flour (Or granulated sugar (see my suggestions below))
Tools
- 1 Cake Pan of 20 cm (8 inches) diameter
Preparation
Beat the eggs together with the sugars and the pinch of salt until you get a creamy mixture;
Mash the ricotta with a fork and add it to the mixture; mix well with the whisk for a few seconds and add the oil slowly while continuing to mix with the whisk;
Add the sifted flour and baking powder, then mix again for a few seconds until well incorporated into the batter;
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (356 degrees Fahrenheit);
Set aside 450 g (15.9 oz) of the obtained batter and pour the cocoa (or the melted and cooled chocolate) and the milk (only if using cocoa powder) on the remaining batter. Mix everything well;
Add the grated orange zest to the chocolate batter and mix;
Butter and flour a pan approximately 20 cm (8 inches) (preferably springform), or whichever you have available that is not too large, and pour the obtained batters in layers, alternating them (I did white-chocolate-white-chocolate-white-chocolate). Gently shake the pan to ensure the batter is well distributed, and if you want a similar effect to what you see in the cake photos, take a skewer stick, dip it and swirl it through the batter in a spiral or zig-zag pattern;
Bake in static mode, for 55 minutes. Do the skewer test before taking it out of the oven (insert a long skewer in the center of the cake and if it comes out dry, the cake is ready);
Let it cool a bit before removing the cake from the pan. Enjoy your dessert!!
Tips
Want an even more delicious dessert? When greasing the pan, replace the flour with a bit of sugar (just enough to adhere to the sides). Your cake will be covered with a sweet layer that will be everyone’s delight! In this case, however, I suggest you, after taking the cake out of the oven, not to let it cool too much inside the pan, otherwise the sugar, cooling down, will make the operation difficult. And when oranges are out of season? You can avoid it, and I guarantee that it will be an equally amazing cake, or replace it with a few drops of orange flavoring.
