This cake is a version of a baked cheesecake. Use the best quality ricotta you can find. If your ricotta is quite wet it would pay to drain it through a muslin-lined sieve for a few hours. Cover and keep in the fridge if doing this. The biscuit base is very thin and gives a wonderful little bit of crunch.
Base
| 60 g | Butter, melted |
| 5 | Digestive biscuits, crushed |
| ¼ cup | Hazelnuts, toasted and ground |
Filling
| 340 g | Ricotta cheese (Main) |
| 125 g | Mascarpone (Main) |
| ½ cup | Caster sugar |
| 3 | Eggs, separated |
| 1 ½ Tbsp | Candied peel, chopped (Main) |
| ½ tsp | Vanilla extract |
| 1 small | Lemon, zest and juice (Main) |
Topping
| ¼ cup | Lemon curd, or passionfruit curd (Main) |
| 150 ml | Cream, whipped |
| 1 serving | Candied orange, or lemon, to serve, optional |
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Directions
- Grease a 20cm spring-form cake tin.
- Mix the butter, biscuits and hazelnuts together, then press into the base of cake tin. Cover and place a plate on top with some weights to press it down. Place in the fridge to firm up. (This can be done overnight).
- Heat the oven to 180C.
- Place the ricotta, mascarpone, sugar and egg yolks in a large bowl and beat together.
- Whisk egg white until soft peaks form and fold through mixture with candied peel, vanilla, lemon zest and juice.
- Spoon mixture into biscuit base and bake for 40 minutes. It should remain a little wobbly in the centre. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
- To serve, fold lemon or passionfruit curd through whipped cream and spead a thin layer on top of lemon ricotta cake. Decorate with clementine slices, if using.
Kathy recommends
Whisked egg whites should be of a similar consistency to the cheese mixture. Fold one tablespoon of egg white through first, then add remainder and fold through.
