14 reasons why ricotta loves chocolate the most

Cheese and chocolate have gone official and we couldn't be happier.

Zuccotto di panettone Source: Tammi Kwok

Fancy a bit of cheese with your chocolate? It's not a combo that doesn't always mesh in your mind straight away, and yet...

Ricotta absolutely, positively loves chocolate and the feeling is mutual. It's a full-on dairy love fest with an added cocoa hit.

Here, let us count the ways...

Do fudge this

Donna Hay works her magic to create a gluten-free chocolate fudge cake that's almost a health food. Source: Donna Hay: Basics to Brilliance Kids

A rich, fudgy chocolate cake topped with a fluffy ricotta frosting is enough to make us end this list here and now. If you make anything, make this.

Pine for this

The pastry will need a solid three hours chilling time and for good reason - this tart is hot, hot, hot. Source: Armelle Habib

Take some ricotta, whisk it with dark chocolate, cream, candied fruit and pine nuts, then lay the lot down in a sweet, zesty pastry bed. There's a lotta love to go 'round here.

Wrap this up

This unique version of cannoli adds cinnamon, cocoa and coffee to the pastry. Source: Paola Bacchia

Ricotta does cannoli so well, but make the pastry shell chocolate and you're really onto something.

Roll with this

Sweet cheese, tahini and chocolate flogeres will transport you straight to Thessaloniki. Source: Benito Martin

Sweet filo rolls lap up a ricotta-chocolate tahini filling and beg for more.

Add to this

Can you see the great lakes of chocolate-flavoured ricotta just waiting for you to dip into? Source: Tammi Kwok

Whoever decided that adding chocolate and ricotta to a fruit-studied panettone has our heart forever.

Cover this up

Yes please, thank you very much. Source: Cook like an Italian

Here's another chapter of when panettone met ricotta and chocolate, only this time the entire thing is covered with an extra layer of chocolate and we are down for that.

Orange this combo

A French classic that blends ricotta with mascarpone then flecks it with choc chips. Source: The French Baker

The combination of orange, ricotta, orange and chocolate is a classic Mediterranean one. The Provence version adds orange blossom water to perfume the ricotta.

Bake this, please

This decadent chocolate ricotta cake is somehow gluten and refined-sugar free. Source: Bondi Harvest

A chocolate ricotta cake is such a rich, moist cake that it hardly needs anything else... wait a minute. It needs chocolate icing.

Trifle of this

This trifle is layered like a tiramisu, with a cumquat-scented ricotta replacing the cream. Source: Matthew Evans

Trifle is always a good idea, but it's life-changing when it's part-trifle, part-tiramisu. Then they go and add in some cumquat marmalade and we're drunk on love.

Marble about this

Ciambella is an Italian ring-shaped cake, prepared here with olive oil and ricotta and marbled with rich cocoa. Source: Jono Fleming

This ciambella is a marble alright. In fact, our fave combo of chocolate and ricotta is marbled to perfection. Have we said the work marble enough times yet?

Fluff this up

There’s nothing quite so satisfying as the crunch of fried brik pastry giving way to molten, chocolate-flavoured ricotta. Source: Shane Delia's Spice Journey

Carob is kinda-sorta chocolate, right? If you're not allowing it, stand down - these lady's fingers are also sporting a dainty chocolate pashmak topping.

Let this slide

When you're looking for a little treat to serve with coffee, try this sweet north African pastry. Source: Adam Liaw

Another sneaky carob entry, but don't let that put you off. Ricotta loves carob almost as much as chocolate.

Fig into this

Ricotta gives this delightful cheesecake texture, while figs add some sweetness and chocolate and hazelnuts bring the crunch. Source: Chris Middleton

Ricotta and chocolate form a harmonious thrupple with fig. Hazelnut gets jealous.

Make this tart

The only thing that possibly loves chocolate more than ricotta is cherry... Source: Silvia Colloca

No more mucking around, this ricotta, chocolate and cherry tart has all your bases covered: buttery pastry, liqueur-spiked ricotta, crowning cherries and a layer of chocolate to boot.