Chocolate Love Cake
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Chocolate Love Cake is a one-of-a-kind chocolate cake with a ricotta cheese filling and a decadent chocolate mascarpone topping. The flavor combination in this not-too-sweet cake will delight your taste buds. Your family will love this Italian-inspired chocolate dessert!
Chocolate Love Cake is sometimes called Sicilian Love Cake or Italian Love Cake because it contains ingredients that are often used in Italian cooking, such as ricotta and mascarpone cheese.
The base of this Chocolate Love Cake is a boxed devil’s food cake mix combined with common cupboard components like oil, water, and eggs. In that way, it is similar to my Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake recipe.
The ricotta and mascarpone cheese filling will then be layered on top. Oh, this is so decadent.
The ricotta layer sinks to the bottom of the cake as it bakes, while the chocolate cake rises to the top for the ultimate switcheroo.
Finally, we’ll top the cake with a thick and creamy chocolate mascarpone topping.
And if you’re a lemon dessert fan, don’t miss our Lemon Love Cake recipe!
Key to Success #1 – Start With a Devil’s Food Cake Mix
Our Chocolate Love Cake has a great base made from a box of Devil’s Food cake mix.
You can really use any type of chocolate cake mix that you have on hand, but I prefer the Devil’s Food cake mix.
I think the Devil’s Food cake mix has the best rich chocolate flavor and a super soft texture.
Make the cake batter according to the package guidelines.
A few pantry supplies, such as water, vegetable oil, and eggs, are usually required.
Pour the cake batter into a greased baking dish and set it aside until you have prepared the second layer.
Key to Success #2 – Add Richness and Moisture with Ricotta Cheese
The ricotta and mascarpone cheese layer adds a great contrast of flavor and color to our Chocolate Love Cake.
The ricotta cheese layer adds flavor and moisture while balancing out the Devil’s Food cake’s sweetness.
Combine the ricotta cheese and half of an 8-ounce package of mascarpone cheese in a medium mixing bowl.
It is not necessary to measure the mascarpone cheese precisely. Half of the mascarpone should be spooned into the ricotta layer.
Combine the ricotta and mascarpone cheeses and blend until smooth.
Blend in the sugar and vanilla extract until smooth then mix in the all of the eggs until they are completely combined.
Spread the ricotta filling all the way to the corners of the chocolate cake batter.
The ricotta filling will sink to the bottom of the cake as it bakes, while the chocolate cake layer will rise to the top.
You can see in the photo below that the layers have switched places.
The layers are not perfectly level and separated, but pretty close!
Key to Success #3 – Crown It With the Luscious Chocolate Mascarpone Topping
It’s time to make the thick and creamy mascarpone topping after the Chocolate Love Cake has completely cooled.
To make the mascarpone cheese, whip it until it is smooth and creamy.
Slowly pour in the milk, continuing to beat until the milk is fully combined.
Add in the chocolate fudge pudding mix and beat for 2-3 minutes, or until the topping is thick and smooth.
You’ll end up with a fluffy topping that tastes a lot like the filling from a chocolate tiramisu.
When the cake has completely cooled, spread the topping onto the cake.
You’ll be amazed at how well this cake slices for serving.
Save this Chocolate Love Cake recipe to your favorite Italian Desserts board or your Chocolate Cake board.
Don’t Miss These Other Delicious Dessert Bars
Chocolate Love Cake
Ingredients
- 1 box, 16.5 oz devil’s food cake mix + ingredients called for on box
- 1 container, 32 oz container part-skim ricotta
- 2 containers, 8 oz each mascarpone, divided
- 3 large eggs
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 box, 3.4 oz instant chocolate fudge pudding mix
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish. Set aside.
- Prepare cake mix according to package directions. Pour the cake batter into the greased baking dish.
- In a medium bowl, beat together the ricotta and 4 oz of mascarpone cheese on low speed until fully combined. Add sugar and vanilla extract and mix well. Add eggs and beat until just combined. Spread the ricotta mixture over the cake batter in the baking dish.
- Bake 50-60 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. The cake layer will rise to the top. Remove from the oven and cool completely.
- When the cake is cool, make the topping. In a medium bowl, beat the remaining 12 oz mascarpone on medium speed until it is smooth. Slowly add the milk and mix well. Add the pudding mix and beat for 2-3 minutes until the mixture is smooth and thick. Spread over cooled cake.
Equipment
Nutrition Facts
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The recipe calls for 2 (8oz each) containers of Mascarpone yet the cake only takes 4oz. So the frosting gets 12oz of Mascarpone? Thanks for clarifying.
Yes, 12 oz mascarpone in the frosting. I will update the recipe card to make that clearer. This cake is so good and unique. Not too sweet.