Ricotta Cheesecake with Homemade Ricotta
If you love to play in the kitchen, this luscious Ricotta Cheesecake with Homemade Ricotta is just your style. Silky smooth and delicious!
Or take a short cut and make with store bought ricotta; you’ll love this Italian Cheesecake either way!
Ricotta Cheesecake with Homemade Ricotta
I have three younger sisters, and we all love to cook AND eat. Our rare get-togethers always revolve around our next meal and those many trips to the grocery store. Maddy does everything without a recipe…and it always works. I’m still dreaming of her gnocchi with a mushroom cream sauce…unbelievable. Katie is the healthiest of the bunch…magically turning lentils into a dish so delicious I craved second and third helpings.
Mary is the one who first used leaf lard for her pie crust. I was drooling at her photos of a berry-filled pastry. Like me, she loves to entertain and has an adventuresome palate. As children of an English major/artist/musician mother and a slightly nutty physics professor father, we are all a little quirky. But at least we can laugh about it! Mary was the one who inspired me to make this Ricotta Cheesecake with Homemade Ricotta.
I’ve asked them all to guest post…and Mary said she had blogged about her ricotta cheesecake years ago on a friend’s blog. I’m reposting it with her permission. You can see her original photos here. I’ve added my photos as I had to try this!! The results are an extremely creamy, lemony Italian cheesecake…I didn’t even miss the crust.
With my 3 sisters in Seattle–full of sushi!
My sister, Mary.
If you’d like to try a twist on the ordinary cheesecake made with cream cheese and sour cream, try this exquisite ricotta cheesecake. And if you’re even more adventuresome, make your ricotta from scratch. I know you’ll love this!
Ricotta Cheesecake with Homemade Ricotta
Homemade ricotta makes one incredible cheesecake
Ingredients
For ricotta:
- ½ gallon whole milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 7 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- ¼ t salt
For the Cheesecake:
- 16 ounces fresh whole milk ricotta, drained
- 12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature (use full fat, not reduced or fat-free cream cheese)
- 1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 1½ teaspoons of vanilla
Instructions
- Squeeze the lemons. It took 3 small lemons to make 7 Tablespoons. (2 large for me)
- Put all the ingredients into a pan over medium-low heat. Allow mixture to heat for 45 to 50 minutes until temperature reaches 165 to 170 degrees. Stir the mixture once or twice
- to avoid sticking. But don’t stir too much otherwise the ricotta curds will be too small.
- Increase heat slightly for another 7 to 8 minutes or until it reaches 200 to 205 degrees on the edges and in the middle.
- Remove ricotta from the heat and allow it to rest for 15 minutes. Line a colander with a double thickness of damp cheesecloth. Pour the curds into the colander.
- Allow the ricotta to drain for 20 minutes.
- Makes 16 ounces of yummy light slightly lemony ricotta. Perfect for pasta, salads or even cheesecake.
- I mixed the ricotta and cream cheese until smooth and then added the sugar and beat it for another 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl while beating to make sure everything is incorporated. (I used the paddle attachment on my KitchenAid...be careful not to overmix or incorporate air into the batter).
- Add the eggs and beat in one at a time. I forgot to let the eggs come to room temperature. I have no idea how this affected the final product.
- Double wrap the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with aluminum foil and place it in a bain marie with the water (hot) coming about ½ way up the pan. Pour the batter in. At this point you may ask yourself where is the nasty graham cracker crust? That gritty vile stuff that totally messes up a perfectly good cheesecake? Yes, it’s totally unnecessary and so it will come nowhere near my awesome cheesecake. (Gosh, that's my favorite part of the cheesecake!! Are you sure we're related?).
- Place the cheesecake in the 350-degree preheated oven for about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Then take it out and marvel at the weird souffle-ness of your creation and wonder what the heck is up with that.
- Then be mildly sad when it settles back down. But don’t worry. You will forget it all once you taste it and realize you just made one awesome cheesecake.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 362Total Fat: 29gSaturated Fat: 17gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 149mgSodium: 268mgCarbohydrates: 13gFiber: 0gSugar: 11gProtein: 14g
50 Comments on “Ricotta Cheesecake with Homemade Ricotta”
Lizzy…..this looks so inviting. Sure could go for a slice now. You are so lucky to have sisters and especially share the same love of things.
……thanks again for sharing your great photo’s and recipes.
Hilary…I really am! Thanks 🙂
Torview and Wilde, thank you! It was a great baking project!
delicious lovely flavour with ricotta
Mina, I just spotted the second part of your message! WOW! Thanks so much…I’m off to check it out 🙂
Oh, wow, thank you all for the wonderful comments! Making ricotta is SO easy…I never, ever thought of making it before, but now I will do it again and again. I can see using it for appetizers…it’s so much better than what I can find in my markets. I appreciate that you all took the time to drop me a line 🙂
I’ve never made ricotta cheesecake with an addition of cream cheese – but think the extra creamy density would be grand for these winter months. Bookmarked! Great post and luscious dessert.
Greatt post from your sister! I’ve never made my own ricotta before but definitely will try it now. And the ricotta cheesecake looks sooooo good, just beautiful! 🙂
Wow, big WOW! You are so blessed Liz……how cool to have your sisters as guests on your blog. The ricotta looks easy enough to make and I must try that. Have made pot-style cheese with buttermilk (farmer cheese). great pics and looks so tasty!
Lizzy-You have my most admiration for you, re: your homemade ricotta, and your amazing Fresh Ricotta Cheese Cake. You remind me of those “little Italian women” that spend endless time in the kitchen, making all their homemade goodies.
Drooling over your fabulous cheese cake, via/Mary, your sweet sister!
What a cool cheesecake. I never considered making my own ricotta….that’s taking making it from scratch to heart. 😉
I like the homemade ricotta recipe! Great post!
I really need to make my own ricotta sometime. I bet this tasted amazing with it! Looks so tasty and I do love cheesecake! Oh, by the way, Go Packers!!
Brandie
Thanks, everyone!
Mary, she did a guest post on this blog…but it looks like it hasn’t been updated in a couple years:
http://kitchendorkitude.wordpress.com/2009/06/13/ricotta-part-b-the-cheesecake/#more-573
Lizzy, I love Mary’s cake and her recipe. I couldn’t find a link to her blog to tell her that myself, so I hope you’ll pass the information on Have a great day. Blessings…Mary
Wow your cheesecake looks really amazing and you made it with homemade ricotta!!! I have to try this 🙂
Tes
http://tesathome.com
Fantastic! Can’t wait to make the ricotta!
I had no idea you could make your own ricotta cheese. That homemade cheese must really make that cheesecake into something fantastic. This is incredible!
Such cheesecakes are the best.. and homemade cheese is the best too 😀 so you made a really great cake 🙂
your sister did a great job here, the cake looks wonderful, we make Ricotta all the time, but must be the only ones to use buttermilk instead of whole milk. I love addition of cream cheese, thats also a big change we never add that must be extremely rich and creamy delcious as it sure looks!
Lizzy…good for you! This looks light and delicious!
A labor of love for sure!
The ricotta came out great!