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!!
RenaLee says
Hello, what are substitutes for the red juice?
Chef Dennis Littley says
You can just use water, it just won’t have the color or added flavor.
RenaLee says
Thank you Chef.
I ended up using cranberry juice with little more sugar to cut the sharpness of the lemon juice as well.
Serving it tonight for Super Bowl 🏈
Liquesence says
I made this recipe exactly as the recipe called for and after 50 minutes in the oven it looks great. HOWEVER, I STRONGLY SUGGEST, if you don’t wrap the pan in foil/use a water bath (I didn’t/don’t), putting a drip tray of water underneath the pan, of cutting the butter in the crust by half. My whole house is filled with smoke because the butter seeped out and dripped onto the bottom of oven and has been burning for half the cook time. Of all the cheesecakes I have made that has *never* happened before.
Otherwise, the cake looks great and the batter tasted delicious.
Jordan says
Hi Chef Dennis,
I just made this recipe and my batter is super wet – it doesn’t look creamy like yours in the picture. I followed the recipe to a tee and double checked that I included the correct amounts. Any idea what could be the issue? Could it be the type of cheese I used? Should I have strained the ricotta? I put it in the oven either way, but can tell something is off with my consistency. Thanks in advance!
Chef Dennis Littley says
hi Jordon
some ricotta cheese is very wet, it doesn’t need to be completely dry, but if you get ricotta that looks like it has too much moisture, straining it would help. The other issue could be the age of ricotta, mascarpone and greek yogurt. Ingredients will break down if they are close to their expiration date. I have that problem with mascarpone in tiramisu, and heavy cream with whipped cream.
If this ever did happen again I would add another egg to the mixture to help bring it together when it baked. There are 6 eggs in the recipe so it should firm up, the texture may be off a little but it should be okay.
Let me know how it turns out when its done.
Tom says
According to my friends, this simple little cheese cake changed me from a cook into a chef. Fantastic result, so easy. Thanks.
Ksenia says
Really beautifully decorated! That cake lifts up my spirits
CN says
This sounds delicious! I’ve never used a spring form pan before. Do you leave it in the pan until serving the cheesecake? Thank you!
Chef Dennis Littley says
You can leave it in the pan, but I would suggest removing the ring after it is cooled. You can leave it on the pan bottom if you like.