Genoise cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9 inch round pans and line with parchment.
2. Sift flour and salt together in a bowl. Set aside.
3. Whisk eggs and sugar together in mixer bowl. Heat over a double boiler for several minutes to dissolve the sugar completely and to incorporate air. The mix should be light and foamy. The original recipe says to heat to around 120 degrees. I took mine off at 75 degrees, and it was just fine.
4. Attach the balloon whisk to your KitchenAid mixer. Then add vanilla to the bowl. Beat the eggs-sugar mixture for 8 to 10 minutes. It should triple in volume and cool to room temperature. You want the mixture to ribbon (like a thick cake batter) and to be light yellow in color.
5. Fold in the flour in three even portions, mixing well between each addition. Don’t overstir the batter: this will deflate the eggs, so it won’t rise properly. Make sure you reach the bottom of the bowl to incorporate any flour that fell to the bottom.
6. Push the batter gently into each greased pan. Bake 17-20 minutes until golden brown and cake springs back when touched.
7. Turn out of pans after 5 minutes and cool completely.

Cannoli filling

1. Blend ricotta cheese and vanilla Cool Whip until smooth and lump-free.
2. Fold in one cup of chocolate chips. Chill until needed.

Frosting

1. Combine whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla.
2. Whip with a mixer until soft peaks form. Chill until needed.

To assemble the whole cake

1. Place one completely cooled cake on your cake stand or platter.
2. Spoon the chilled ricotta filling over the cake layer then spread evenly. You can spread it the whole way to the edges as the top layer won’t squish it out too much.
3. Carefully place the second cake on top of the filling. Make sure excess filling isn’t spilling out the sides.
4. Frost the top and sides of the cake layers with frosting. Garnish with remaining chocolate chips.
5. Chill until ready to slice.