This cake is inspired by Smitten Kitchen’s wonderful cannoli pound cake, which I discovered thanks to the Dinner Sisters podcast (one of my favorite US foodie mom podcasts). When I first heard the girls talking about this one-bowl recipe on their pod, the idea of it stuck in my head for weeks, to a point where I knew that it was destined to be my baking project the next time a rainy afternoon would roll around. In the weeks that followed, I never got around to getting all the ingredients, so it went through a slight metamorphosis but it was actually awesome. In this version, I replace the pistachios with hazelnuts (they go so well with the chocolate!), and white sugar with a smaller quantity of coconut sugar in an attempt to feel a little better about feeding it to the kids. I also omitted the lemon zest and just stuck with orange because I had a beautiful organic one from the neighbor’s tree in our fruit basket. The result was moist, delicious, and overall amazing. Although it didn’t have that exact cannoli taste, it did remind me of the chocolate-covered orange peels we find in French chocolate shops, called “orangette”. It is an ideal afternoon treat – and even more perfect for a rainy day. It keeps really well for a few days and like most coffee cakes, is very tempting to have as breakfast…If you don’t have chocolate chips, you can totally substitute them with a chopped-up dark chocolate bar.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup/150 g coconut sugar
- zest of 1 large organic orange
- 1 tsp pumpkin spice
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup/125 ml olive oil
- 1 cup/250 g ricotta
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 cup/190 g flour (I used Bob Redmill’s gluten-free 1:1, but the original recipe calls for all-purpose)
- 1 cup/170 g dark chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup/60 g hazelnuts, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 175 C
- In a large bowl, combine sugar, spices and orange zest well, until well combined.
- Add the eggs, olive oil, and ricotta. Whisk well until smooth. Briefly mix in baking powder.
- Pour in the flour and mix until just combined (don’t overmix it so that it stays moist)
- Incorporate the chocolate chips and hazelnuts
- Pour the batter in a loaf pan lined with parchment paper
- Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Let cool on rack. Slice and serve.
