Baked ricotta cheesecake.

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I’ve made this cake five times in the last three weeks. I did a lot of research before settling on this recipe, which sort of picks and chooses ingredients and amounts from countless others. A few months ago I made a very thin baked cheesecake without ricotta, and with Arnott’s shortbread creams for the base. It turned out really tasty but I had my heart set on trying out a ricotta cheesecake. I wanted to top the cake with raspberries but the frozen ones I had were… ugly. I decided to smoothie those, and get some other picture pretty berries out for this one.

I didn’t want to make such a large, eggy cheesecake so I used only two eggs. No sour cream in this one either even though so many recipes list it in their ingredients. I didn’t really read vanilla extract in other recipes for ricotta cheesecake most of the time but I decided to go ahead and use it. Maybe one day I will try without the vanilla, and also forgo the biscuit base in favour of actually making the cheesecake pastry.

I’ve made this at home a couple of times. I made it for a picnic I went to with my friends who I work with, and I’ve sent off slices to various other friends at work (see last photo of the post) with teeny tiny forks. So far I’ve been getting positive  comments on the taste, and appearance of the cake. 🙂 The biggest validation is from my mum though. I had a feeling she would enjoy the taste of this creamy cake because its similar to creme caramel puddings favoured by Bangladeshi women, but with biscuit beneath it.

I hope you’ll try out this recipe. Leave me a comment below if you do!

Ingredients:

• 350g ricotta
• 250g cream cheese
• 2 eggs
• 125g unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon plain flour
• 250g  crushed plain biscuits (I used 375g of Arnott’s Scotch Fingers in the photos attached but that made slightly too thick a base)
• 200g sliced strawberries for topping (optional)
• Powdered sugar for topping (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line a circular spring-form pan with baking paper and grease the inside with some unsalted butter.
2. Crush all the biscuits until it has reached a sand-like consistency. Melt the unsalted butter and then combine in a bowl with the crushed biscuits. Pour the mixture into the cake pan and press down to flatten the biscuit base. Put in the freezer to firm up while preparing the filling.
3. Put the ricotta, cream cheese, sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl and blend.
4. Combine with the flour and add each egg slowly, ensuring everything is incorporated.
5. Take cake pan out of freezer and pour the filling onto the base. Use a spoon to scrape it all out of the bowl – no need to waste the tasty filling!
6. Lift the cake pan and drop it lightly on your kitchen counter a few times  – this helps to release air bubbles in the filling that create a blemished surface and cracks.
7. Now place the cake pan into your pre-heated oven and switch the heat down to 180 degrees. Bake the cake for 40 minutes. After 40 minutes the top of the cake at the center ought to be firm if you gently press a finger on it. The sides will probably have risen slightly and browned.
8. Leave the cake pan in the oven with the heat shut off and the door slightly ajar for 1-2 hours, before removing from the oven to cool completely.

Notes:

• A bit of powdered sugar on top of the strawberries helps to sweeten them. Strawberries are likely to be quite tart, and the powdered sugar gets absorbed into the berries.
• Making sure that the ricotta, cream cheese and eggs are at room temperature is crucial. It makes the filling easier to blend, and makes it less likely for cracks to form on top of your cheese. Less likely. It could still happen though.
• Let the cake cool completely before removing from the pan, as it will be less likely to ruin the crust.
• This cake is totally awesome naked, but as far as toppings go, assorted berries are amaaaaaazing. 🙂