I absolutely love cheesecake! Who doesn't?
I remember this one from my childhood, my grandmother always made it in the sweltering height of summer. It's so light and so fresh, and so very different from every other cheesecake out there, but what a difference: for starters it's made with ricotta, not cream cheese. This is mixed with strawberries and the juice and zest of one lime to give it an amazingly interesting and fresh taste. The base is a light, delicate yet crunchy egg mixture with hazelnuts, and that combined with the cool cheese topping forms the most interesting flavours and textures in your mouth. If I could take a bite out of summer, this is the epitome of what it would taste like for me.
This recipe is also one of the main reasons I love baking: placing one, two, three or more different individual ingredients together to make something completely new and fabulous. It's like alchemy, almost magical. I absolutely love it.
The flower ladies around the corner from where I live also had some gorgeous peonies saved up for me - a big thank you to them! There's something so awfully elegant yet tragic about peonies, but in a very good way, wouldn't you agree?
I also had some leftover elderflower cordial from last week's [ Gooseberry Fools ] so I made some refreshing drinks with the rest of the limes I had and some freshly picked mint from the window box - perfect to serve to guests on a hot summer's day.
Recipes after the jump!
Ricotta cheesecake, serves 8
For the base:
30g flour
1tsp baking powder
100g sugar
100g chopped hazelnuts
3 eggs
For the cheese topping:
400g strawberries, washed, sliced and diced
Zest and juice of 1 lime
1 pack (15g) powdered gelatine (4 pieces of paper gelatine)
100g icing sugar
500g ricotta
For decorating:
100g strawberries
1. Mix all the ingredients for the base in a bowl with an electric mixer for about 2 minutes. Place in a buttered baking tray lined with baking paper and place the tray into a preheated oven at 180°C and bake for roughly 20-25 minutes. Once baked, remove from baking tray and allow to cool.
2. For the cheese topping, heat the lime juice in a pan (don't boil!) and dissolve the gelatine in it.
Place to one side. Mix the ricotta, lime zest and powdered sugar together. Add about 4 tablespoons of the ricotta mixture to the gelatine mixture and whisk by hand. Then add the rest and mix thoroughly. Gently fold the diced strawberries under the mixture.
3. Place the base back into the baking tray and pour the ricotta mixture over it. Refrigerate for two hours, then decorate with the extra strawberries.
Lime, elderflower and mint cordial drinks:
Dilute 1 measure of elderflower cordial to 9 measures of water. Add some fresh mint and the juice of two limes. Pour into a serving jug and add extra lime slices. Stir thoroughly. Serve chilled.
