If you’ve never tried an Italian Ricotta Cheesecake you don’t know what you’re missing. Top it with fresh berries and you’ve got a dessert of legendary status!
updated from original post July 3, 2010
Ricotta Cheesecakes are not the same as a New York style cheesecake. They’re not a sweet and not creamy in the same way. I didn’t want to say not as creamy, because it’s still freaking awesomely creamy!
The real secret to making a ricotta cheesecake extra cream is adding mascarpone. Which for lack of a better term is Italian cream cheese. Adding in sour cream or Greek yogurt adds a little of the flavor you’ve come to expect from a New York style cheesecake.
While we are making Italian desserts, be sure to try my delicious cannoli recipe and my cannoli cake. Soooo good.
What ingredients do I need to make a Ricotta Cheesecake?
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make an Authentic Ricotta Cheesecake with Berries. In Chef Speak this is called the “Mise en Place” which translates to “Everything in its Place”.
Not only does setting your ingredients up ahead of time speed the up cooking process, but it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
*If you’re not familiar with digestive biscuits I like to think of them as Adult Graham Crackers.
How do I make a Ricotta Cheesecake?
The first step is making the crust for the cheesecake. In a food processor, grind up the pistachios, then remove from them from the processor. Add the graham crackers and grind to a fine meal.
Melt one 6 tablespoons of butter and add the melted butter and sugar to the ground pistachios and graham crackers, mix well.
*The mixture should be wet enough to form but not so wet that it oozes butter.
Form the crust into your springform pan and bake at 375 degrees for about 7 minutes.
In your mixer, blend together the ricotta cheese, mascarpone, and Greek yogurt. Blend until the mixture is smooth.
Add the eggs one at a time until well blended. Next, add the sugar, flour, salt, grated lemon peel, lemon juice, and vanilla. Blend well until very creamy.
Pour the cheesecake batter into a prepared Springform pan (with baked crust) and bake at 375 degrees for 50-60 minutes in a conventional oven or until the cake has set in the middle.
**The top of the cheesecake can get brown. If you’re not topping the cheesecake or prefer a lighter top, cover the cheesecake with foil for half of the time in the oven.
After the cheesecake has fully cooled, you can start adding the strawberries around the outer edge of the cheesecake. Cut the bottoms off the strawberries so they sit nicely on the cheesecake.
Next add the blueberries to the center of the cheesecake, making sure they are at least two deep. Spoon the prepared glaze over top of the strawberries and blueberries.
*You can use a brush to make sure all of the strawberries are coated with the glaze,
Refrigerate the cheesecake for at least 4 hours or overnight. The cheesecake will be soft and crumble unless you give it time to set up.
You’re going to love the texture and flavor of this Ricotta Cheesecake. This Italian Classic is a delicious version of one of America’s favorite desserts!
More Cheesecake Recipes You’ll Love!
- Restaurant Style Cheesecake
- Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars with a toffee crust
- Blood Orange Ricotta Cheesecake
- Chocolate Cheesecake Bars with Pecan Shortbread Crust
Ricotta Cheesecake
Equipment
Ingredients
Crust for Cheesecake
- 1 ¼ cup graham cracker crumbs
- ½ cup pistachios toasted
- 6 tablespoon Unsalted Butter melted
- ¼ cup Sugar
Ricotta Cheesecake
- 16 oz ricotta cheese full fat or low fat
- 16 oz mascarpone *or cream cheese if you can find mascarpone
- 8 oz Greek yogurt *or sour cream
- 1 cup sugar
- 6 large eggs
- 2 tablespoon flour
- grated peel of one lemon
- juice from one half lemon
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon salt
Topping for Cheesecake
- 1 pint strawberries whole berries
- ½ Pint blueberries more if desired
- 1 cup red fruit juice
- juice of one lemon
- 2 tablespoon sugar
- 1½ tablespoon corn starch
Instructions
Crust for Cheesecake
- In a food processor, grind up the pistachios and remove from the processor. Then add the dgraham crackers and grind to a fine meal.
- Melt 6 tablespoons of butter and add the butter and sugar to the ground pistachios and graham crackers, mix well.*The mixture should be wet enough to form but not so wet that it oozes butter.
- Form crust into your springform pan and bake at 375 degrees for about 7 minutes. *Allow to cool before adding the cheesecake batter.
Ricotta Cheesecake
- In your mixer blend together the ricotta cheese, mascarpone, and Greek yogurt. Blend until the mixture is smooth.
- Add the eggs one at a time until well blended.
- Add the sugar, flour, salt, grated lemon peel, lemon juice, and vanilla.
- Blend well until very creamy. Pour mixture into prepared Springform pan and Bake at 375 degrees for 50-60 minutes in a conventional oven, or until the cake has set in the middle. The top of the cheesecake can get brown. If you're not topping the cheesecake or prefer a lighter top, cover the cheesecake with foil for half of the time in the oven.
Topping for Cheesecake
- Wash the strawberries and blueberries, allow to dry on paper towels.
- Cut the tops off the dried strawberries and place around the outside of the cheesecake, fill the inside with blueberries. They should be at least two deep in the middle of the Strawberries.
- Place all but ¼ cup of the juice and lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan, heat to a near boil. Mix corn starch, into remaining juice and make into a slurry, add the slurry to the heated juice and bring to a low boil. The mixture should start to clear as it thickens. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes, then spoon over the berries.
- Refrigerate the cheesecake for at least 4 hours or overnight. The cheesecake will be soft and crumble unless you give it time to set up! I know it's hard to resist but it will be worth it!!
Wendy Irene
A perfect summer dessert, and the colors are wonderful!
Beth Luwandi
This looks absolutely wonderful! Love the red, white, and blue! Such a beautiful cheesecake; hope you got to eat it too!
Great photography, btw!
Iron Chef Shellie
That cheesecake looks amazing!
surviving suburbia
you sure make ricotta look and sound good! my husband LOVES cheesecake (and i have to admit i eat my fair share of it, but we're both not huge ricotta fans… this just might be the thing that turns us around! i'll have to try the recipe someday… sooner than later! thanks for sharing!
Allie
Whoa. Amazing pictures, looks delicious. I wish I could eat cheesecake, but I'm lactose-intolerant, can you imagine being a pastry chef and being lactose-intolerant? Terrible. Anyway, if there was ever a cheesecake I would willingly get sick eating, I would totally pick this one. And again amazing pictures!
faithy, the baker
This look so yummy! Not just yummy but so appetizing as well..love the colors! Love your blog!
Thanks for dropping by my blog Chef! 😀
Hanaâ
That does look delicious indeed. I've never made a ricotta cheesecake before. I like to make homemade ricotta so this would definitely be a good application for it. Just one question (and maybe I missed it): what size springform pan did you use? I assumed 9" until I read 6 eggs and then I started looking for a pan size but couldn't find it. Thanks much!
First time on your blog. Great stuff!!
Cristie
DELICIOUS! and it's beautiful as well. I'm bookmarking this one to use with some berries leftover from the 4th 🙂
The Domestic Adventurer
How lovely! You managed to achieve the perfect 4th of July dessert without the use of any red, white, and blue food dye.
I've just recently discovered the heaven that is Greek yogurt as well. So far I've been enjoying it straight up for breakfast but I'll have to try it in cheesecake as well!
sweetlife
goregous ricoota cheesecake, it suit the 4th perfectly, I also wanted to make something with cherries, but my girls ate all the cherries too, but they finished them off in one sitting…too be young..
sweetlife
Renata
Hello
That´s my first time here at your wonderful blog!
I would like to leave my compliments, you can show us real wonders here!
And I say that I loved the title of that post in particular: red, white and blue dessert, very creative!
Renata Boechat
http://www.eternosprazeres.blogspot.com
Juliana
Thanks for your visit! I love cheesecake, your blog is excellent! In Brasil blueberries are called "mirtilos". I love so much and I do a wonderful chessecake with. http://jusempressa.blogspot.com/2010/03/ultima-da-temporada.html
Tanantha @ I Just Love My Apron
OMG Dennis you have 112 comments!!! I gues i'm very late to this post. Sorry as I just got back form vacation.
I love ricotta cheese! Your cake looks absolutely stunning and it looks creamy as you wanted to. Gorgeous cake!!
Clumbsy Cookie
Looks delicious! I love the shiny topping and that you used pistachios in the crust! They're the best nut ever!
Nirmala
Gorgeous. The problem with all these wonderful desserts is that feel compelled to make them only when we have guests, otherwise I would eat it all!