Recipe: Pumpkin-Cannoli Cheesecake Cake by Molly Baz
Forget boring pumpkin bread, this pumpkin cake mixes in all the flavors of a great cannoli with whole-milk ricotta, orange and pistachios.
Molly Baz is a chef, former Bon Appétit food editor, and online-video host whose first cookbook, “Cook This Book,” debuted at the top of The New York Times bestseller list in 2021. She’s following up with “More Is More: Get Loose in the Kitchen,” a cookbook that emphasizes her love of bold, bracing flavors — more garlic and herbs, more vinegar, more mortadella, more… well, basically everything.
Among the 100 flavor bomb recipes are The One & Only Hoagie and Crispy, Crunchy Brocc & Grains with So. Much. The cookbook includes a recipe for a Pumpkin-Cannoli Cheesecake Cake.
“I like to think this version of the pervasive pumpkin bread is a major upgrade — it’s topped with a creamy ricotta cheesecake layer that tastes like the filling of a great Italian cannoli,” writes Baz. “My pumpkin cake (it’s a cake, let’s just admit it) doubles down on ginger — there’s both freshly grated ginger in the batter and crystallized ginger in the cheesecake filling, because why settle for just one expression of fall’s quintessential ingredient when you can have two?!”
Pumpkin-Cannoli Cheesecake Cake
This recipe yields one 9-inch cake.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup vegetable oil plus additional for the pan
114 cup raw shelled pistachios (6 oz.)
12 oz. crystallized ginger
one orange
1 pound of fresh whole-milk ricotta
Use 4 large eggs, divided
2 cups sugar plus 2 tablespoons, divided
212 cup plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour, divided
2 tbsp vanilla extract (distributed)
2 tablespoons kosher salt, divided
1 tablespoon cinnamon powder
2 teaspoons cardamom powder
1 tsp. baking powder
nutmeg, freshly grated 1/2 teaspoon
a half teaspoon baking soda
1 piece fresh ginger (2 inches)
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin puree
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and place a rack in the center. Grease a 9-inch springform pan lightly with vegetable oil. If you want to serve the baked cake on a plate or cake stand, line the bottom with a round of parchment paper cut to fit. Grease the parchment paper.
To make the cannoli cheesecake topping, follow these steps: Coarsely chop 1¼ cups raw, shelled pistachios. Set aside 2 handfuls for later sprinkling. Place the remaining pistachios in a large mixing bowl.
12 ounces crystallized ginger, finely chopped (you should have 1/4 cup). Remove the zest of 1 orange in strips with a vegetable peeler. Slice them thinly lengthwise. To finely chop the strips, thinly slice them crosswise.
Combine the pistachios, orange zest, crystallized ginger, 1 pound ricotta cheese, 2 large eggs, 12 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, and 1 teaspoon salt. Whisk vigorously until the mixture is smooth. Set aside the ricotta mixture for the time being.
Prepare the batter: Whisk together the remaining 212 cup all-purpose flour, cinnamon, cardamom, baking powder, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, freshly grated nutmeg, and baking soda in a medium mixing bowl.
Bake: Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Place the ricotta mixture on top and spread it evenly to the edges. Sprinkle with the reserved pistachios.
1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake layer comes out clean. Allow the pan to cool for at least 20 minutes after removing it from the oven. To loosen the springform pan, run a knife around the edges. Remove the cake from the pan and place it on a wire rack to cool before slicing. Refrigerate any leftovers — the cake is also delicious cold!
