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- 350 g (12oz) good quality chocolate sponge cake
- 300 ml (½ pint) double cream
- 50 g (2oz) icing sugar, plus extra to dust
- 4 Tbsp. Kirsch or cherry brandy
- 250 g (9oz) ricotta cheese
- 100 g (3½oz) plain chocolate, chopped
- 100 g (3½oz) natural glacé cherries, halved
- 100 g (3½oz) pistachio nuts, chopped
- A little cocoa powder to dust
- Step 1
Use a little water to dampen a 1.8 litre (3¼ pint) freezerproof mixing bowl and line with clingfilm. Thinly slice the chocolate cake and use about two-thirds to line the base and sides of the bowl, leaving no gaps.
- Step 2
Whip the cream, icing sugar and liqueur until the mixture just holds its shape. Lightly beat in the ricotta cheese, then stir in the plain chocolate, cherries and nuts. Spoon into the bowl and smooth the surface.
- Step 3
Top with remaining sponge, then fold over any excess cake around the sides of the bowl to cover the cream. Cover with clingfilm and chill for at least 4hr or overnight.
- Step 4
Take off the clingfilm and turn on to a flat plate. Dust generously with cocoa, then with a thin layer of icing sugar. Cut into wedges and serve immediately.
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Make recipe to the end of step three and freeze for up to a month. The day before serving, transfer the bowl to the fridge. Complete recipe.Per Serving:
- Calories: 520
- Total carbs: 40 g
- Sugars: 31 g
- Total fat: 36 g
- Saturated fat: 14 g

An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
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