Ricotta Chocolate Cake With Nutella And Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

With less sugar, no more runny frosting. Yay!

Too long for a title, you say? It's because just 'Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake' or 'Nutella Peanut Butter Cake' won't do it justice. I HAVE to mention ALL the ingredients this cake has just so you know how sinful this cake is. It's really, really sinful.

I'll say it once again:

Ricotta Chocolate Cake With Nutella And Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

adapted from smitten kitchen

(a little note: I've been wanting to try the recipe on that link since long ago. But I could never bring myself to buy sour cream, peanut butter, cream cheese, butter, chocolate, and cream in one go. No, it won't be cheap. But today I had leftover cream cheese from yesterday's Red Velvet Cake, there was peanut butter in the fridge, and some nutella sitting on the counter that could be a substitute for the chocolate glaze. The only thing missing was sour cream. But I had about half liter of milk also from yesterday leftover that I could turn into homemade ricotta, which I believe is the same thing. Okay, it's not, but it is cream, and is sour, for one thing. So I heated up the milk, added a half tablespoon vinegar, then strained, and used it right away. And I could even used the whey in change of water. Okay, too long for a little note, let's get back to the recipe)

yields: a 15 cm round cake. Double the recipe to make a 22 cm round cake.

Ingredients:
125 grams cake flour
175 grams sugar
33 grams cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
120 ml oil
120 grams sour cream (or homemade ricotta)
180 ml water (or whey from homemade ricotta)
1 egg, lightly beaten

For the frosting:
200 grams cream cheese
60 grams margarine or butter
1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
90-100 grams peanut butter
75-100 grams nutella for topping

Methods:
Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Grease two or three 15 cm round cake pans (depending on how many layers you want it to be). Set aside.

Sift together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.

Add oil and sour cream, whisk until combine. Add water gradually, whisk, then egg, whisk until well mixed.

Divide batter into the pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. In my oven it took about 35 minutes for two layers. It might take shorter time if you make it into three layers.

Let them cool in the pans, then transfer to a wire rack. This cake is very soft. I froze these layers of cake before frosting them so they would be easier to work with.

Make frosting: Beat cream cheese and margarine until smooth and fluffy. Add confectioners' sugar, continue mixing until well mixed and creamy. Add peanut butter, stir with a spatula until combined.

To frost, put one layer of the cake on a cake stand or plate, flat side up. Spread the frosting, then top with another layer. Repeat if you have three layers. Cover the side and the top thinly with frosting, then store the cake in the freezer for a while until it sets, so when you do the final frost there will be no cake crumbs mingled with the frosting.

Don't worry about your cake becoming hard and frozen, they will defrost quickly at room temperature.

Once the thin frosting is firm enough, continue coating the cake with the rest of the frosting. Then I chilled the cake once again until the final frosting is firm, so it won't be mixed up with the nutella.

Finally, spread the nutella on top of the already firm frosting, and then you can treat yourself a slice. Enjoy your hard work!

Finally, after so many hours of chilling and freezing and waiting!

My favorite kind of mess.