Cannoli Layer Cake

Items Needed for this recipe: Cheesecloth, Thin whole strainer, 3 seven-inch round cake pans, plus an electric mixer.

The day before making this cake, strain the 2 cups of whole milk ricotta cheese by placing a strainer in a bowl and lining it with cheese cloth that overlaps the sides. Fold the overlapped cheese cloth on top of the cheese and press down on the cheese.  Place it in the fridge overnight to let it continue straining out the liquid.  This will ensure that when you make the frosting for this cake, all excess liquid with be removed.

Cake Ingredients:

2 2/3 cups of flour

1 ½ cups sugar

½ cup of brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 ½ sticks of unsalted butter at room temperature

1 ½ cups of buttermilk

2 large eggs

1 tbsp vanilla extract

Cake Directions:

Move the oven rack to the middle position and pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grease the cake tins with Crisco and flour the tins, removing excess flour. Set aside.

Add the flour, brown, white sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt to the mixer. Beat on low speed with the paddle attachment.

Add the butter a bit at a time to ensure it is well blended.

In a medium bowl whisk together buttermilk, eggs and vanilla.  With the electric mixer on low speed, slowly add the buttermilk mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Divide the cake batter equally into the 3 cake pans (I used 3 ½ cups among the 3 pan and on more ¼ cup in each pan). Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 25-30 minutes, or until the toothpick inserted in the middle comes out fairly clean.

Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Run a thin knife around the edges of the pans and invert onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Cannoli Frosting Ingredients:

16 ozs of whole milk ricotta cheese

16 ozs of mascarpone cheese

4 cups of icing sugar

1 tbsp of vanilla extract

½ tsp cinnamon

2 cups of mini chocolate chips

Cannoli frosting Directions:

Remove the ricotta and mascarpone from the fridge about 20 minutes ahead of time. Mix them in an electric mixer with a paddle attachment on low speed along with the vanilla and cinnamon.  And stir until smooth.  Gradually add the icing sugar and continue to stir on low speed until smooth.

Assemble the cake:

With a serrated knife, remove the domes from the cakes so that they are flat.  Place the first cake on a serving platter of the cannoli frosting on the first layer and top with the second layer.  Repeat this with the third layer sprinkling some of the mini chocolate chips on each layer (for the second and third cake, I used a BBQ spatula).

On the top layer also spread the sides of the cake.  Spread the top edges with ½ inch of the mini chocolate chips.  You can also pipe a thin layer of the frosting around the bottom edge of the assembled cake and add some chocolate chips on top of that.

Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Once you slice a piece of the cake, all of the calories fall out 🤣