I occasionally get requests for Italian cheesecakes; the person is usually looking for torta di ricotta, which is one of the more classic and standard simple Italian desserts. To be honest, it isn't what I recognize as a cheesecake. However, though I have yet to come across a New York-style cheesecake in Italy, I have begun to encounter cakes that draw from the traditions a North American would recognize, and they can be very good. In this case, raspberries also enter the picture.
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
- 1/2 pound (225 g) dry crumbly cookies for the crust
- 3/4 cup (150 g) unsalted butter
- 2/3 pound fresh ricotta or soft spreadable cheese (or a mixture of the two)
- 2/5 cup (80 g) sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2/5 cup (1 dl) cream
- An organic lemon
- 1/2 pound (200 g) raspberries
- 1/2 cup (50 g) powdered sugar
- A pinch of salt
Preparation:
Blend the raspberries and the powdered sugar, and put the sauce thus obtained through a strainer to remove the seeds. Grind the cookies (I would use I would use Oro Saiwa, which are similar to graham crackers, but you can use what ever you want) by rolling them between two sheets of paper. Melt the butter and combine it with the cookie crumbs; spread the mixture evenly over the bottom of a 9-inch (22 cm) spring pan that you have previously lined with oven paper, pressing it down to compact it.
Preheat your oven to 360 F (180 C).
Put the cheese through a fine wire-mesh strainer. Grate the zest of the lemon into a bowl and add to it the juice of the lemon, strained. Separate the eggs and beat the yolks with the sugar until the mixture is pale yellow and frothy; fold in a pinch of salt and the cheese, followed by the cream and the lemon. Beat the whites to soft peaks and carefully fold them into the cheese mixture too; turn the mixture into the spring pan, evening the top with a spatula. Use a teaspoon to drip some of the raspberry sauce over the top of the cake, and pull the tip of a toothpick through the drops to stretch them out into a decorative patterning.
Bake the cake for about an hour; remove it from the pan to a serving plate, let it cool, and serve it with the remaining raspberry sauce.
Yield: A raspberry cheesecake to serve 4-6.
Preheat your oven to 360 F (180 C).
Put the cheese through a fine wire-mesh strainer. Grate the zest of the lemon into a bowl and add to it the juice of the lemon, strained. Separate the eggs and beat the yolks with the sugar until the mixture is pale yellow and frothy; fold in a pinch of salt and the cheese, followed by the cream and the lemon. Beat the whites to soft peaks and carefully fold them into the cheese mixture too; turn the mixture into the spring pan, evening the top with a spatula. Use a teaspoon to drip some of the raspberry sauce over the top of the cake, and pull the tip of a toothpick through the drops to stretch them out into a decorative patterning.
Bake the cake for about an hour; remove it from the pan to a serving plate, let it cool, and serve it with the remaining raspberry sauce.
Yield: A raspberry cheesecake to serve 4-6.
