Chocolate Italian Love Cake

Hands down, the most popular recipe on this blog! This Chocolate Italian Love Cake is the perfect make-ahead dessert! It tastes better after a day or so chilling out in the fridge.

I love this cake. My husband loves this cake. My children love this cake.

I’m guessing a lot of other people do too, and that’s how it got its name. It certainly is yummy, and it’s a pretty impressive dessert for being so simple to put together. It’s a great dessert for a crowd, or pot luck, because you can make it ahead of time and it actually tastes better the longer you let it hang out in the fridge!

I started by mixing together a box of chocolate cake mix and the ingredients it asks for on the package. You could easily substitute any other cake flavor, whatever suits your fancy, really. I was in a chocoholic kind of mood, and was serving this to a group of women who tend to enjoy their chocolate as well, so I went with fudgy.

Once the cake batter was mixed, I got another bowl and mixed together some ricotta cheese (There’s the ‘Italian’ part.) , eggs, sugar and vanilla together.

I got out a 9×13 inch pan and sprayed it with nonstick spray. Then, I poured the chocolate cake batter into the dish. Once it was spread out evenly, I carefully poured the cheese mixture over the top of the cake batter.

Then, I popped it into the oven, and that’s where the magic happens.

As the cake bakes, the layers switch places! I didn’t know this the first time I made the cake, so needless to say, I was pretty surprised when I took my first Love Cake out of the oven!

That big crack in the middle of the cake didn’t worry me in the least, because once the cake was cool, I got to work on my frosting.

The frosting is simply chocolate pudding folded into Cool Whip. If you’re changing up the cake flavor, you could just change up the pudding flavor to follow suit!

I spread the frosting all over the top of the cake, and then it went to hang out in the fridge for the rest of the day.

Every time I cut into one of these cakes in front of people, there’s always an “Oooh! Aaaah!” moment. Nobody expects it to come out in such perfectly formed layers. In fact, I’m tickled every time that it does too!

Besides being pretty, it’s simple, and really, really tasty.

Gotta love it!

CHOCOLATE ITALIAN LOVE CAKE

Adapted from Paula Deen

Related

*The following directions are correct. The layers switch during the baking time! Pour the cake batter into the prepared baking dish. Spread to fill the pan evenly. Once the cake batter is in place, carefully pour the cheese mixture evenly over the top of the cake batter. Spread to cover the cake batter as best as you can.

Original article and pictures take http://chewnibblenosh.com/2013/05/28/chocolate-italian-love-cake/ site