I'm trying to make a cannoli cream filling for a cake and my ricotta mixture is still lumpy with tiny curds in it. How am I supposed to get it smooth and creamy? Right now it just looks nasty and there is no way I'd use it in a cake. Thanks!

Ricotta DOES have tiny curds and it's not going to get perfectly smooth. I have never seen cannoli filling that was

okay, I guess it's just me... I hate things with curd texture. Can't stand cottage cheese or tapioca pudding. LOL I just can't imagine putting this in a cake for someone, but it's what they requested.

I don't like cannolis either

Try adding some custard to it. My mom used to make cannolis with both ricotta and a cooked custard. It was pretty smooth. I seem to remember seeing her beat the ricotta, beat the custard, then beating the two together.

Don't use the store brand or the lower fat ones. They are grainier. Use only the full fat, brand name ricotta. When I make cannoli filling I add sugar-free fat-free instant pudding to it and a little fat-free half & half to get it to the right texture. If it's not as smooth as I'd like it, I use an immersion blender. Comes out smooth as silk.

Erinalicia,

Being a FBI (full blooded Italian), put your ricotta in the food processor or blender and puree it. That is how I get smooth ricotta for cannoli cream.

FWIW, Sargento makes a extra smooth and creamy ricotta, that one I do not have to drain or puree.

HTH,

Toni Ann

(BTW, my BFF has a daughter whose name is Erin Alicia too!!)

I did a cake this weekend with a recipe from this site, it calls for cream cheese, I used marscapone and beat it pretty well, it was not completely smooth because of the nature of ricotta, but it was nearly smooth and had a nice texture....

http://cakecentral.com/recipes/14674/cannoli-filling

Thanks so much for the info. I bought the store brand ricotta cheese. I guess I'll dump this batch and try the sargento brand. I was going to use the recipe that called for cream cheese as well. It's supposed to be the filling for an Italian cream cake.

I might try to put it in the food processor first to see how it comes out. Some days I really hate tying new recipes.

I've been trying for years to get my cannoli cream smooth like when you buy cannoli's in the bakeries. I used mascarpone cream along with the ricotta and powdered sugar for the 1st. It came out better but not completely smooth I did use a hand mixer. I am going to try the immersion blender. The recipes called for 12 oz. of ricotta and 8 oz of mascarpone cream and 1/2 cup powdered sugar. I added 2 more oz of ricotta and about 1/3 cup more of powdered sugar and the flavor was better. I think I'm going to go with less mascarpone cream next time to get the flavor more ricotta than mascarpone.. Hope this helped

AYou need ricotta impastata. Thats all we've ever used.

AI have a recipe that was given to my mom about 55 years ago for cannoli and a custard like filling that you would die for. No ricotta cheese in this one. It was given to her by her boss, Sam Spattafora, who got it from his mom, who was from Italy. Unfortunately, I'm on the wrong computer! Will try and get on the other one later thus week if anyone is interested.