One of my biggest weaknesses is cheesecake. I know that it is calorific yada yada yada, but I only eat it every now and again. The inspiration to make it this time was the fact that I had bought some cheap cheese at the Good Food and Wine Show (bocconcini, mozzarella and ricotta for $10), and happened to notice afterwards that the reason for this is the short expiry dates on the cheese concerned. I ate the bocconcini out of the bucket as a snack (yum!), and needed inspiration for the ricotta (which definitely would not be nice eaten out of the bucket).
I remembered that I had copied out a cheesecake recipe from a flatmate's cookbook years ago for a three cheese cheesecake, with one of the cheeses being ricotta - but do you think I could find it? Nope. So good ol' Google came to the rescue, with a search for "cheesecake + 200g ricotta". I found this recipe, which seemed to be similar to the one that I remembered from my flatmate's cookbook, so I went ahead and made it.
Quark is not that easy to find here and is quite expensive, so I subbed in cottage cheese. I also added a tablespoon of ginger syrup and some chopped ginger to the cheesecake batter, although the finished product tasted lemony rather than of ginger. For the base, I used half and half Marie biscuits and gingernuts, as I had the Marie biscuits open in the cupboard and wanted to use them up.
I was grateful of this cheesecake when I came home from a fruitless 2 1/2 hour excursion to buy skate for French Fridays with Dorie, as I used a slice for a pick me up with a skinny flat white coffee (from my recent US trip, that translates in Starbucks to a non-fat latte) that I had picked up on the way home. I poured some ginger syrup on top of my slice of cheesecake so that I still got my ginger hit:
And the verdict? Seriously delish! This cheesecake is not as dense as one based solely on cream cheese, and I liked that.
Here is the recipe as adapted by me:
200g cream cheese, softened (I used low fat)
200g cottage cheese (I used low fat)
200g ricotta
1 1/4 cups sugar
zest of 1 lemon and ~15 tablespoons lemon juice
5 eggs
150g biscuits (gingernuts, Marie, Nice etc)
85g butter, melted
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line the base and sides of a 9" springform pan with baking paper.
To make the base, process the biscuits to fine crumbs in a food processor (or bash with the handle of a rolling pin), then pour over the melted butter and stir to combine. Press the biscuit mixture into the base of the lined springform pan and press with a spoon until the base is evenly covered. Bake the base in the oven for 10 minutes, then remove and cool.
Lower the temperature of the oven to 160 degrees Celsius (I didn't because my oven just switches off if I try to lower the temperature).
Beat the cream cheese, ricotta and cottage cheese together in a stand mixer until smooth and creamy. Add the sugar, and beat until well combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition. Fold in the lemon zest and juice (and add any flavouring such as ginger syrup or chopped stem ginger).
Pour the cheesecake batter on top of the cooled biscuit base, then bake in the oven for an hour, or until the cheesecake is just very slightly jiggly in the centre. Turn off the oven and with the door ajar, leave the cheesecake to cool in the oven for around an hour. Remove the cheesecake from the oven and chill in the refrigerator for 5-6 hours before serving (I only left it for around 3 hours and it was fine).
11 comments:
Oh how I adore Cheesecake...my favorite cheesescakes always involve Ricotta. I love that your recipe has three different cheeses and Ginger! I don't think I have ever had a Ginger Cheesecake and the Ginger Syrup is, shall I say, the "icing" on the cake. Oh how I wish I had a taste this Sunday evening:)
Thank you so much for sharing, Cakelaw...If there's any left, I bet you could freeze it in portions:)
This sounds lovely, the cottage and cream cheeses would complement the ricotta beautifully. Ginger and lemon are great flavour partners so this is an all round great dessert offering (for any time of the day) :D
I have a weakness for cheesecake too! I love how this cheesecake involves three different cheeses and how you used low-fat cheese - this is certainly a cheesecake with a lot less guilt attached to it! xx
HI, just letting you know I think there's an issue with the captcha on your blog. I was putting in the numbers/letters exactly as they appeared but it still wouldn't approve my comment. I had to try eight times! I wonder how long it will take to get this comment across the line!
Hi Charlie Louie, thanks - I have disabled that setting so it should be good to go.
This looks great! I think I would like this cheesecake since I'm not a huge fan of cream cheese but love ricotta and cottage.
Yumm this looks tasty, and nothing wrong a treat every now and then
Three cheeses in the one cheesecake? I am so there! I sometimes get really strong cravings for cheesecake and I think that this would satisfy them very nicely!
I am sure I can help - next time you need to make a cheesecake send some my way :-) I love cheesecake too but I don't think I have ever made a large one since I have been blogging - it is quite shameful how rarely I make them so I admire your cheesecakes - this looks great
Three cheese cheesecake! Impressive stuff, even if cheesecake isn't my favourite dessert :)
I'm with you, cheesecake is something I never make but absolutely love so I just get a bite or two off of Mark's when we are out and order it. I could never be trusted with one in the house, I would keep nibbling at it until it was gone! Yours looks great. I always have to look up Quark as I can never remember what it is. Nice to read about your change-ups and how they worked for you.
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