Chocolate Ricotta Cake

Last night it totally happened. I was craving something sweet like no other. Specifically, I was craving Italian Ricotta Cake that Piazza Sorrento in Hershey makes that can only be considered gluten free perfection. I didn’t have a lot of time, and wanted to make it a LITTLE better for us.

So, I started playing around. What happened wasn’t what I was originally going for, but the whole cake was gone within an hour of completion (not just because of me, but my parents stopped by and, well, John and the boys loved it).

Check it out below and by all means give it a try!

Chocolate Ricotta Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 box or bag of the chocolate gluten free cake mix of your choice…this can also be made with regular cake mix if you’re not gluten free!
• 3 eggs
• 5 egg whites
• 2/3 cup applesauce
• 1 1/3 cup water
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 cup light sour cream
• 1 cup agave nectar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 TB unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Mix the cake mix, 1 egg, 2 egg whites, applesauce and water. Pour into prepared 9×13 cake dish.
• In a separate bowl, mix the ricotta cheese, sour cream, agave, vanilla, cocoa powder and remaining eggs and egg whites.
• Pour evenly over the UNBAKED chocolate cake mix.
• Bake for 55 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

You can add an icing if you’d like, I recommend a whipped cream cheese one, but, this is great as a stand alone cake.

Enjoy!

NOTE: I am entered into ZOOMA’s Run to Napa contest, which depends on your vote! The winning blogger AND a reader (could be you!) will win a trip to Napa for the ZOOMA Women’s Half Marathon in June. Right now, I’m in third place, and would appreciate daily votes through February 24! LINK!