Italian Cannoli Pound Cake

My Italian Cannoli Pound Cake topped with a creamy white chocolate ganache, is the perfect dessert for the winter season. But I love the rich, tender crumb of this moist pound cake all year long. Loaded with chocolate chips with a delightful cinnamon flavor, this cake is sure to be a hit with your whole family.

Mama Jeanette’s delicious cake has long been a holiday tradition in our home, but it seems to be showing up more and more throughout the year.

It’s an old family recipe that I’ve been trusted with and one I wanted to share with my extended family of friends and followers across the internet.

Ingredients for Cannoli Pound Cake

Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make my Cannoli Pound Cake. In Chef Speak, this is called the “Mise en Place,” which translates to “Everything in its Place.”

Not only does setting up your ingredients ahead of time speed up the cooking process, it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.

Made with simple ingredients

• ricotta cheese
• all-purpose flour
• granulated sugar
• large eggs
• vegetable oil
• vanilla extract
• chocolate chips
• cinnamon chips
• orange zest
• lime zest
• baking powder
• cinnamon
• salt

Where Can I find Cinnamon Baking Chips?

Hershey’s makes the cinnamon baking chips that I use when I make this pound cake, but you can use any brand that you like. If you can’t find them at your local grocery store or Walmart, you can find them on Amazon.

If you can’t find the cinnamon chips, you can leave them out of the cake. Although they do give the cannoli pound cake an added layer of flavor, it’s not a deal breaker if you have to leave them out.

How to make Cannoli Pound Cake

• Preheat oven to 350°F and place the oven rack in the center of the oven.
• Prep a Standard loaf pan, coating it with butter and sugar, or use pan spray to coat the pan.

• Add the all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon to a large mixing bowl.
• Whisk the dry ingredients to combine.
• Add the sugar, orange zest, and lime zest to the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or electric mixer and a large bowl).
• With the mixer on low, mix the zest into the sugar allowing the oils from the zest to blend into the sugar. Mix for about two minutes, then set aside until needed.

• Add the vegetable oil, vanilla extract, and room-temperature eggs to a large bowl.
• Mix until well combined.
• Add the ricotta cheese to the wet ingredients.
• Whisk until well blended.
• Add the granulated sugar to the mixture.
• Mix to blend into the wet ingredients.

You want a mild-tasting oil for this cake, you can use olive oil if you like, but it will change the flavor.

• Add the dry ingredients to the ricotta mixture.
• Mix just enough until blended.
• Add the chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and cinnamon chips to the cake batter.
• Mix just enough to incorporate the chips. Don’t overmix!

• Pour the cake batter into a prepared loaf pan and place the pan on the center rack of your preheated oven and bake for 55 to 65 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
• Allow the cake to cool on a wire rack in the baking pan for 15 minutes, then turn the cake out of the pan and onto the rack to finish cooling.

• Place the white chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. In a separate, microwave-safe container, microwave the heavy cream for 20-30 seconds.
• Pour the cream over the white chocolate, making sure that most of the white chocolate is covered. Let stand for 5 minutes. Then, stir in a gentle, circular motion until the white chocolate has melted completely and the mixture is smooth.

*If necessary, the mixture can be microwaved for a few seconds more.

Pour the white chocolate ganache over the cooled cannoli pound cake and allow it to set for a few minutes until it starts to firm up.

This cake comes together pretty quickly and has such a delicious blend of flavors your house will smell amazing as it bakes in your oven. This old family recipe is one of my favorite Italian desserts.

After one bite of this delicious cake, I know you’ll agree that this is the best Cannoli Pound Cake you’ve ever tasted!

I can thank Mama Jeanette for teaching me how to make her famous Italian Pound Cake. It may not be the easiest pound cake recipe, but trust me when I tell you, this cake is definitely worth the effort.

This post includes affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

I used a Chicago Metallic 9-inch commercial loaf pan to bake my pound cake, and Hershey’s Cinnamon Chips, Nestle’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, and White Chocolate Chips to make my Italian Cannoli Pound Cake.

Feel free to use the chocolate chips of your choice to make this cake.

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