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 of 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, just mixing 2 cups of crushed cookie crumbs with 4 to 5 tablespoons of melted butter and pre-cooking it for 10 minutes.
Ricotta Cheesecake
Ricotta Cheesecake lightly flavored with lemon and rum. If the top cracks, just cover it with fresh fruit.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ricotta cheese, drained
- 4 eggs, separated
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup light rum
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- Mixed Berries and Chocolate sauce for topping
Instructions
- Drain the ricotta cheese overnight. Place it into a fine sieve lined with paper towels or cheesecloth. Place the sieve over a bowl and leave it in the fridge overnight, at least 8 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Prepare a springform pan with parchment paper. Line the bottom and sides. Use melted butter or non-stick spray to help the parchment stick to the sides.
- Place the drained ricotta cheese into a food processor and process until smooth. Add in the egg yolks, sugar, rum, flour, lemon zest, vanilla, and salt and process until well blended.
- Whip the egg whites until they hold stiff peaks. Fold the cheese mixture into the egg whites and then transfer to the prepared springform pan.
- Bake the cheesecake for 60 to 75 minutes and the internal temperature reads 150 degrees F. The edges will be firm, but the center will still look “unset”.
- Remove the pan and allow to cool for 2 to 3 hours. Remove the sides of the pan, wrap the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
- Let the cheesecake stand at room temperature for 30 minutes while you add the mixed berries and drizzle chocolate sauce before serving.
Notes
Recipe from Baking Illustrated
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Images, text and all other content Copyrighted©Karyn Granrud, Susanne Queck and Wunderlander Verlag LLC, or ©Pro Stock Media via Canva.com. Unlicensed republishing permitted. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn on qualified purchases.
I really like this gorgeous chhesecake. I’ll compliment.
Thank you.
Hi,
This recipe sounds lovely. But could you recommend anything other then rum? I cannot stand the smell of it let alone the taste of it. And I would love to make your devils food cake and ricotta cheese cake.
You can omit it all together or use some vanilla extract to add some flavor.
Thank you so much for sharing this at the Cook it! Craft it! Share it! link party. Cheesecake if my favorite dessert, I can’t wait to make it myself. -Doree
Thanks so much for the new party!
I loved your Tip Me Tuesday link this week. {thanks girl!} Would you like Tip Junkie to feature your blog post to over 200,000 creative women? If you upload this blog post into your Tip Junkie craft room using at least 2 images, 2 steps, and blog post URL then I can easily feature it in my RSS feed, home page, and all my social networks instantly. {squealing with delight} ~ Laurie {a.k.a. the Tip Junkie}
http://www.tipjunkie.com/post/how-to-add-a-craft-room-project-on-tip-junkie/
This looks so good Karyn! So pretty too:)
Thanks. I tried my best.
This looks delicious! I love the use of ricotta and lemon topped by mixed berries and chocolate…great flavor combination here! Thanks for sharing another great recipe!
It looks so pretty and I bet tastes amazing. Thank goodness for fresh fruit and chocolate…no one would ever know about the crack under there.
OMGOODNESS! This looks incredible! Great job! I would have never known it cracked – I actually came to take a look at this recipe (I saw it featured at a link party) to see how you did it as my first cheesecake cracked REALLY badly! Good to know it happens to many bakers…..and that’s a great tip for covering it up!
Perfect! My disguise worked perfectly! I should have made a water bath for it, but I skipped it. Lesson learned.
girl you almost chucked this? goodness if you did i woulda cried knowing this was in the trash, cracks and all…maybe i’ll just hang out by your garbage next time. :>O
This looks amazing! Also, congrats because you are featured on this week’s Do Tell Tuesday link party and have been pinned to our features board! Feel free to grab a button and link up this week too. 🙂 http://www.vintagezest.com/2014/04/do-tell-tuesday-21-with-features.html
Diane @ Vintage Zest
Thanks so much for the feature 🙂
Can you use homemade ricotta cheese?
Yep! I used homemade Ricotta in this recipe.
Karyn, I love this recipe….it looks so delicious! I have been looking for a recipe for cheesecake that I could love for a long time, and I think I just found it. I love cheesecake, but I’ve been looking for something a little extra…this is it….thanks for sharing!
Thanks Jodee! It’s a great cheesecake.
This looks divine! I’ve always been intimidated by the idea of making cheesecake at home, maybe its in my own best interest considering I have NO self control when it comes to cheese cake. In fact, I’d like some right now.
Xoxo K
http://peeledwellness.com
Soft cheeses are easy, but they do take a little bit of time. Give it a try!
The cheesecake was WONDERFUL!!