Ricotta Cheesecake

Chocolate Cake with Cheesecake Center – Day One – Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake

I love Cheesecake and I love Chocolate Cake, so I figured that I should combine the two into a wonderful dessert. This week, I’ve got an amazing Ricotta Cheesecake, Vanilla Bean Buttercream, and a Devil’s Food Cake Combination. There’s something for everyone!

This cheesecake is only the second one I’ve ever baked. The neat thing about this recipe is that instead of using cream cheese, I used Ricotta cheese. This gives the cheesecake a lighter, less dense, texture as well as a slightly milder flavor.

I loved the addition of the lemon and rum. It added a hint of flavor without overriding the creamy dairy taste.

I have to admit that my cheesecake top totally cracked! It cracked bad! I didn’t use a waterbath with it and I really regretted not taking the time to make one. Big Mistake. I just thought that the creamy cheese would be moist enough.

I almost didn’t take pictures it. I was a bit embarrassed.

However, I had just gone to Costco and had bought a ton of berries, so I used them to cover up the ugly cracks. And Voila! No more ugly top! Nobody would ever know. It’s the perfect disguise.

The fruit and the cheesecake were beautiful together.

I baked this cheesecake to be sandwiched between two layers of cake. If you are going to make this cheesecake by itself, you can add a graham cracker or cookie crust to the bottom. That’s easy to make mixing 2 cups of crushed cookie crumbs with 4 to 5 tablespoons of melted butter and pre-cooking it for 10 minutes.