My Blood Orange Ricotta & Mascarpone Cheesecake is perfect for the holiday season.
I remember my first encounter with blood oranges, we were in Rome and it was Christmas day, and had gone down to breakfast in our hotel before heading out to the Vatican to see Pope John Paul.
It was a continental breakfast with delicious pastries, cheese, fruit and of course juice. I decided to start with juice and the offerings were a reddish juice that assumed was pink grapefruit, and a normal orangish juice, that I of course assumed was orange juice.
After tasting what I thought was orange juice, I knew had made a mistake because it was grapefruit juice, and when I questioned our server, I was told the other red tinged juice was, in fact, blood orange juice. It was love at first taste!
After all these years, I still wait for blood oranges to come into season, they’re available in the US from November to May and are grown in Texas and California, the cooler fall and winter nights help develop the distinct maroon color.
The varieties grown in the US seem to vary in sweetness, but It really doesn’t matter to me if they’re not as sweet as I remember, because the memories are…..sigh
The best blood orange juice I ever had was in Pompeii from a little cart where it was freshly squeezed while we waited, it was so good I went back for more. So you see even if our blood oranges aren’t as sweet as those grown in Italy, my memories add more sweetness to them!
This year’s blood oranges proved to be a little on the tart side, but the color was beautiful and having bought more than I would eat, I knew I had to come up with a good use for the remainder. It really was an easy decision, they would be a wonderful addition to a ricotta cheesecake!
The tart-sweet orange with its hints of raspberry would be the perfect compliment to my ricotta cheesecake, and the color of the blood oranges would be a delicious contrast from the pale creamy color of the cheesecake!
Ricotta cheesecakes are not for everyone, and honestly, I do still enjoy a New York style cream cheese cheesecake, but every now and then I miss that flavor and texture of a good ricotta cheesecake!
I find that by using mascarpone it smooths out the texture and adds some richness to the dessert. Feel free to use cream cheese if you can’t find mascarpone it will still be a delicious alternative to the New York style cheesecake.
But I promise you’re friends and family will love my Blood Orange Ricotta & Mascarpone Cheesecake!
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Blood Orange Ricotta & Mascarpone Cheesecake
Ingredients
Crust
- 12 lemon creme cookies* or traditional graham cracker crust
- ½ stick of butter melted
Cheesecake
- 16 oz ricotta cheese
- 16 oz mascarpone
- 8 oz Greek yogurt
- 1 cup sugar
- 6 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons flour
- grated peel of one Lemon or lime
- juice from one-half Lemon or lime
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon Salt
Topping
- 3 blood oranges skin removed, and sliced (remove seeds)
- 2 tablespoons 0range marmalade peach or apricot preserves will also work
Instructions
- preheat oven to 375 degree’s F
Crust
- in the bowl of a food processor pulse your choice of cookie for crust until smooth
- add melted butter and combine.
- press crust into the bottom of prepared springform pan, and partway up around the sides of the pan.
- Bake crust for 7-10 minutes, and allow to cool.
Cheesecake
- In the bowl of your mixer blend together the ricotta cheese, mascarpone, and Greek yogurt blend until smooth.
- Add eggs one at a time until well blended.
- Add sugar, flour, salt, grated lemon peel, lemon juice, and vanilla.
- Blend well until very creamy.
- Pour mixture into a prepared springform pan and Bake at 375 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until the cake has set in the middle.
- The top of the cheesecake can get brown, if you are not topping it or prefer a lighter top, cover with foil for half of the time in the oven.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool
Topping
- place the orange marmalade in a small pan and over low heat allow it to liquify
- after allowing the cheesecake to cool, place the orange slices on the top of the cheese cake.
- using a pastry brush, brush the marmalade on the oranges and all exposed areas on the top of the cheesecake.
- Use enough of the marmalade so it has a nice glaze.
- allow the cheesecake to set up in the refrigerator overnight for best results*
Notes
*Cheesecake needs time to set up, I would recommend a minimum of 6 hours refrigerated before serving.
maria nestro
hi chef Dennis
can you tell me the size pan to use for this ricotta cheesecake? can the recipe be doubled for a larger cake? and if so what would be the cooking time? I have made your tiramisu and it was a hit at a holiday dinner. thank you so much and have a Happy and Blessed Holiday!
Chef Dennis Littley
hi Maria
I use a 10-inch springform pan. You can double it for a larger cake but it can affect how it cooks and you can end up drying out the outside while the middle cooks. If you want to make it larger I would suggest using a baking rectangular baking pan so it cooks more evenly.
As for cooking time if its a rectangular pan, it shouldn’t take too much longer but the best bet is to check the middle with a toothpick to make sure its done.
Sheelagh@anirishvillagepantry
Ooh, this looks right up my citrus alley. Love blood orange juice and as we have a lot left over from marmalade making – this delicious cheesecake sounds like an ideal candidate. Thanks Dennis 🙂
Alida
I love ricotta and use it a lot in my cooking. This cake looks amazing and I like the combination with the oranges.
Cheryl and Adam @ pictureperfectmeals.com
Chef, you have our hearts in your kitchen. Cheesecake and blood oranges, how is it possible to have anything so good this side of heaven? Congrats on the Top 9 yesterday, beyond well deserved! Hope you and yours are well and the back’s not giving any problems.