Chocolate Chips and Ricotta Cheese lend a lot of flavor to this moist and delicious pound cake. Perfect with coffee or a cup of tea and certainly as dessert served with  fruit or whipped cream!

I just love it when things turn out well in the end! That is what happened to this yummy pound cake which came together on a whim. We usually have a fellowship meal at our church every 3rd Sunday of the month. Each family are encouraged to bring a main dish and either an appetizer or a dessert to go with it. Guess what combo I would often choose? One with the sweets of course!

I had been quite busy the week before so I never got the chance to properly think of what dessert to make and which ingredients to buy. Instead, I panicked late Saturday afternoon and wondered if I should just ask Mark to get me some salad for the next day. Before totally giving up hope, I decided to look into the pantry and the fridge to see if there are some ingredients there that maybe I can use to make a quick cake.

Thankfully, I found out, I still had some sugar and enough flour to make a cake. Plus, I found a bag of chocolate chips as bonus! Woohoo! The fridge had some eggs and some left-over buttermilk although there was no cream cheese.....sigh. Then, out of the corner of my eye I saw some ricotta cheese instead and thought that would do. So I set off to make this ricotta and chocolate flavored pound cake. I wasn't exactly sure it would work out but I didn't have much of a choice at that point so proceeded to bake anyway.

The next day I asked my food critics (that would be my 10 and 7 year old kids!) to taste the cake to see if it passed their discriminating tastebuds! LOL. Both of them loved it and so I decided to bring it along with my rice and beef stew. Glad it turned out well and I came home with a smile and enjoyed one left-over piece for myself! Success!! Hope you enjoy this cake, too!

Chocolate Chip Ricotta Pound Cake

By: Manila Spoon
Published: 09/23/2016

Chocolate Chips and Ricotta Cheese lend a lot of flavor to this moist and delicious pound cake. Perfect with coffee or a cup of tea and certainly as dessert served with fruit or whipped cream!

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1 cup Chocolate Chips
• 1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted Butter, softened (room temp)
• 1 cup granulated Sugar
• 3 large Eggs
• 1/2 cup Ricotta Cheese
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 cup Buttermilk
• 1/2 cup Confectioner's (icing) Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Milk
• 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325 F. Butter a 9-inch loaf pan and line it with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl. Use about 2 tablespoons of the flour mixture to coat the chocolate chips in another bowl. Set aside.
3. Place the softened butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat after each addition. Follow it with the ricotta cheese and vanilla extract and continue to mix until well combined.
4. With the mixer on low speed, gradually and alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. Using a spatula, fold in the chocolate chips including all the flour added to it. Mix just until combined and no more white specks of flour remain.
5. Baked in the preheated oven for about 1 hour or until a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
6. Make the glaze by combining the milk, vanilla extract and confectioner's (icing) sugar in a bowl stirring until smooth. Spread the glaze all over the cake while it's still warm (not hot!) using a pasty brush. Completely cool on the rack and cut into slices before serving. May be served with fruits and whipped cream for dessert or enjoyed on its own with coffee or tea. Enjoy!

Yield: 10-12 slices
Prep Time: 00 hrs. 20 mins.

Cook time: 01 hrs. 00 mins.
Total time: 1 hrs. 20 mins.
Tags: Dessert, Pound Cake, Sweets, Tea Time, Coffee Cake, Chocolate