Friday 10 July 2009

Light ricotta cheesecake

You've probably seen ricotta cheese used in pancakes to give them a light, fluffy texture but did you know it could be used in cheesecakes with similar effect? Cheesecake is normally about as far from light and fluffy as you can get, but trust me this cheese cake is much lighter but every bit as delicious as it's richer denser counterparts.
Unlike most cheesecakes this one has no biscuit or cake base, the cheese mixture is poured straight into the tin to be baked.

The recipe is adapted from one of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's, he used home made goats curd cheese for his version. As I don't have any goats of my own and I couldn't get any goats curd cheese in the shops I used ricotta which made the perfect substitute.

The finished cheesecake was creamy and light with a subtle lemony flavour in the background, a raspberry sauce made the perfect accompaniment.

The original recipe can be found here. The recipe below contains my adaptations.

Ricotta Cheesecake
Ingredients
•750g Ricotta cheese
•45g unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
•3 tablespoons medium oatmeal
•a good pinch of salt
•75g caster sugar
•2 eggs, lightly beaten
•Grated zest of 2 small lemons, plus 1 tbsp lemon juice

For the raspberry sauce
•250g raspberries
•75g caster sugar
•A tablespoon of water
Directions
Preheat the oven to 170C/gas 3 and butter a 20-23cm springform cake tin.

Beat the cheese with a wooden spoon until smooth, then add the melted butter, oatmeal, salt, sugar, eggs and lemon zest and juice. Mix well. Spoon the mixture into the tin and smooth the top. Bake for about 25 minutes, until just set.

For the sauce put all the raspberries into a saucepan with a tablespoon of water and the sugar, bring to a simmer and cook for a couple of minutes. You can serve it as it is or pass the raspberries through a sieve for a more refined sauce.

Serve the cheesecake hot, warm or at room temperature with the raspberry sauce and cream if you like.

17 comments:

♥peachkins♥ said...

I love cheesecake!! Is there any left??

Beth (jamandcream) said...

cheesecake is my all time fave

Amanda said...

I'd like to know more about this cheesecake. It sounds absolutely lovely. Do you still have the little curd lumps in the finished cake, or does the beating remove them and make the cheese smooth? I'm trying to get an idea of the finished texture.

I especially love that it doesn't have a crust. That's right up my alley!

Karen said...

This sounds delicious and light and love the 'hint of lemon' with the raspberry sauce... mmmm!

gastroanthropologist said...

Sounds delicious - a lighter cheesecake is definitely welcome (though I do love the dense NY style too!) in these warmer summer months. A little lemon, a little raspberry sounds like the perfect accompaniment. Wish I had a fork and a slice right now!

Sam said...

Peachkins: Sorry there isn't, I'll save you some next time, I promise ;)

Beth: Mine too, I can't get enough!

Amanda: The texture is nothing like as smooth as a regular cream cheese cheesecake but it's not really lumpy either. The beating does remove most of the lumps, I guess the more you beat it the smoother it would become.

If you ever had anything stuffed with ricotta -pasta for example- the texture is very similar to that. I hope that helps a bit!

Karen: Raspberry and lemon is a really good combination, it works especially well here.

Gastroanthropologist: I love NY cheesecake too but something lighter is good for hot summer days.

Nic said...

Another thing I haven't made! Looks good though, very creamy!

Alicia Foodycat said...

I love a dense rich cheesecake - but there are times when it is just too cloying. This looks perfect, Sam!

Katie said...

Sound lovely and quite light compared to cream cheese cheesecake. Do you fancy owning goats? I can just image you taking care of some.

The Caked Crusader said...

I love ricotta cheesecake; it's quite a different texture to other cheesecake.
Love the fruit coulis too

Marta said...

I love ricotta cheesecake so much!
I think this is probably a more versatile recipe since, you know, few of us have goats at hand ;)

Maggie said...

I wouldn't know where to find goats curd cheese either - unless it's stocked in Waitrose.....
The cheesecake looks wonderful.

Pam said...

I am looking for lighter dessert recipes - this looks PERFECT!

Anonymous said...

I'm intrigued - this might be the least fussy cheese cake recipe I've ever seen! And I'm curious about the oatmeal. Yay for adding whole grains to desserts!

Recipe man said...

this cheese cake looks great and its part of my all time favorites.. thanks im sure to try this out again soob

Momgateway said...

Yummm...I love ricotta and I make my cheesecake with Nutella, Yum...again

Coffee and Vanilla said...

I love cheesecakes and word "light" in your recipe make me want to try it straight away!