From the Bakery

Italian Love Cake (modified)

I started with this recipe from Allrecipes.com, but I made a few changes. Most importantly, the original called for the cake to be topped with a chocolate pudding & Cool Whip mixture that I didn't think would do the recipe justice. I admit to loving me some Cool Whip, but it always seems rather low-end, 1970's housewife to me, and the rest of this recipe seemed to have some real high-end potential. So I made a simple chocolate ganache to go over the top. I think my instincts were dead-on. It was fantastic, and you'd never guess it started with a mix. If I baked it in a springform pan and served it whole and unmolded on a cake stand, you'd swear it came from a posh bakery.

The other changes I made were small ones, like increasing sugar and vanilla extract, using whole-milk ricotta instead of skim, and reducing baking time because it was done before the recipe said it would be. Here's the recipe in a nutshell:

1 box chocolate cake mix (I used Supermoist Chocolate Fudge), prepared according to package directions

Pour batter into greased 9 x 13" pan and set aside.

Combine 32 oz. whole milk ricotta cheese (one of the big containers) with 1 cup sugar, 2 t. vanilla extract, and 4 eggs. Mix well, then carefully spread evenly over cake batter, all the way to the edges.

Place in oven preheated to 350 degrees. Ricotta layer will sink and chocolate cake layer will rise to top while baking. Bake at 1 hr. 15 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center of cake layer comes out clean. (Recipe called for 1 hr. 15 - 1 hr. 30 mins, but mine was done at 1 hr. 15.)

Let cake cool.

For chocolate glaze: heat 1/3 cup heavy or whipping cream in microwave until very hot but not boiling (about 2 minutes). Stir in 2 Hershey's Special Dark chocolate bars, broken into pieces, until mixture is smooth. Let cool for 10 minutes, then spread evenly over cake. Refrigerate several hours before serving (and store in fridge because of all that dairy).