bill’s ricotta cake

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The basic recipe for this cake I read about in Bill Granger’s. It’s so simple and easy. You can use it again and again. It’ll go fine always… & anytime of the year.

Depending on the seasons you can add some fresh fruit or some mixed-berry-sauce or some chocolate sauce or whatever to create your own special cake event.

There is only one challenge: you’ll always have some problem with getting the cake out of the pan resp. springform. More about this task later!

 

 

One approach is flavoring the cake with lemon or orange flavour & adding fresh fruit e. g. fresh berries. Okay – you won’t have fresh berries all over the year, but there is the frozen solution which might do it as well.

…& there is jam: you may also use some berry jam combined w/ some fresh or frozen berries. Let’s see how it works in this post.

However, at first the cake…

What do we need?

 

 

Not much:

  • ricotta
  • eggs
  • sugar
  • lemon zest
  • limoncello.

You see I go for a lemon flavoured cake.

 

 

Let’s grab a springform, oil resp. butter it & add some fine breadcrumbs.

(…& don’t forget to preheat the oven to 150° C w/ fan!)

Grate the lemon zest & add it to the sugar.

Mix the eggs w/ the sugar w/ help of a handheld electric mixer until very, very fluffy.

 

 

Then just add the ricotta & mix w/ a egg whip until smooth. Don’t forget to add the limoncello…

Pour the mess in the prepared springform & put it into the oven for about 1 h 10 min.

 

 

Voilà: our cheesecake for all seasons!

 

 

Let’s now start w/ the sauce – I had compiled:

  • fresh blueberries
  • fresh red currants
  • strawberry-raspberry-jam (my own reserve!)
  • morello jam (store-bought)
  • some limoncello.

 

For the record:
We don’t need any sugar because of the jam…

 

 

Just clean & trim the fresh berries.

Mix everything & use a blender to mash the berries. Drain the mess through a sieve to eliminate all the tiny pits…

 

 

(Once again…)
Voilà: here are cheesecake & sauce!

 

 

Enjoy!

 

bill’s ricotta cake
Imagine a cheesecake with nothing than a cheesecake layer i. e. no cake. We’re baking today a plain cheesecake with a light lemon flavour - soft, moist, fresh, fruity. You may add fresh fruit or any fruit compote... We prepare a berry sauce where we combine fresh berries and berry jam.
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time1 hour 10 minutes
ingredients:
for the cake:
  • 100 g sugar
  • 6 eggs
  • a pinch of salt
  • grated zest of an organic lemon
  • 2 tbsp limoncello
  • 1000 g ricotta
  • some oil or butter for the springform
  • some breadcrumbs
for the sauce:
  • 125 - 150 g fresh blueberries
  • 150 g fresh red currants
  • 100 g morello jam
  • 100 g strawberry-raspberry jam
  • 50 ml limoncello
equipment:
  • an electric handheld mixer
  • an egg whisk
  • a springform about 25 cm
  • an electric blender
how to:
for the cake:
  • Preheat the oven to 150° C w/ fan.
  • Oil the springform & add breadcrumbs, shake slightly to distribute the breadcrumbs. Discard of any loose bread crumbs.
  • Grate the lemon zest.
  • Whisk the sugar & the eggs until foamy w/ the handheld mixer.
  • Add salt & lemon zest.
  • Fold in the ricotta w/ an egg whisk.
  • Add the limoncello.
  • Pour the batter in the springform & let it bake for about 1h 10 min.
  • Let the cake cool down.
  • After about 15 min try carefully to remove the edge.
  • Only if totally at room temperature move cake carefully w/ the help of a long knife from the springform bottom to the designated cake stand.
  • Store in the fridge.
for the sauce:
  • Clean & trim the fresh berries.
  • Mix all the berries & the jam together & add limoncello.
  • Puree it in a blender.
  • Pour the result through a sieve to eliminate all the pits etc.
  • Store in the fridge.
Notes
The sauce: Of course you may change the ingredients like going for black currants, blackberries etc. It’s also possible to use only jams (especially if in winter) or use only fresh berries (e. g. in summer). If using only fresh berries think of adding some tbsp of icing sugar for the sweetness. Adjust to your taste.
Lemon zest & limoncello: If you prefer an orange flavour just add grated orange zest and orange liquor instead of... You may also go for a pure vanilla flavour.
Don’t freeze the cake.

(information on equipment)

 

 

 

The challenge:
The cheesecake is very soft & smooth – it requires to do any handling w/ lots of care!

  • When removing the edge of the springform use a knife to free the cake wherever it likes to stick to the edge.
  • Before transferring the cake to the final plate wait until the cake is completely cooled down. Let it slide slowly from the springform bottom onto the plate – use a long knife (or something equivalent…) to help the cake sliding by carefully freeing the cake when stickling to the bottom.

I tried to use baking parchment, but it didn’t work any better. On the contrary: although the transfer to the final plate was easy it wasn’t easy at all to remove the baking parchment which liked to wrinkle, to stick, to … Therefore I think the butter-breadcrumb method is better.

 

 

Pls note:
I didn’t use additional sugar nor any thickening agent for the berry sauce… & I didn’t cook the sauce.

  • Concerning the sugar: the jam was sweet enough, but when using no jam you’ll have to add some sugar – how much depending on your taste.
  • Concerning the thickening agent: the mashed fruit was rather viscous – no need for any further thickening. If you use more fresh fruit think about the liquid… & add some corn starch or whatever…
  • Concerning cooking: if using fresh fruit… (I use to cook a berry sauce when starting w/ frozen berries, adding sugar & using a thickening agent!)

 

 

The businesswoman w/ too many office hours thinks

I like the idea of this cheesecake for all seasons especially to finalize a dinner w/ family & friends. The cheesecake will be enough for at least 6-8 people. I can vary this cake by different flavours & sauces or chopping just fruit salad…

 

 

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keep it simple. be flexible. always.