Denise wanted to make this cheesecake for a get together with some friends. I was a little skeptical, but she did see it on Martha. This cheesecake is made with ricotta, after all. I am an american cheesecake eater. American cheesecake is made with cream cheese. The following is that cheesecake that I modified because I messed it up. More on that later.
Ingredients:
Original Recipe:
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 pounds ricotta cheese
1 teaspoon orange zest
6 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
My Additions:
1/4 C AP flour added to the original
1-8oz package cream cheese softened
1.) If you are using an oven (I suggest that you do, or you will end up drinking your cheesecake) set it to 350 degrees.
3.) Dump all the ingredients in your stand mixer bowl. If you don't have one....get one. It will be alot easier. If you absolutely refuse, you can use your hand mixer...I suppose. The original recipe wanted you to mix the wet ingredients first, then add the eggs one at a time. Then....blah, blah, blah. Whatever. I usually don't have the patience for that. Mix everything together until it looks like this and don't forget to scrape the sides down:
4.) Pour this into a lightly greased and floured 10" spring form pan. We use the bakers spray that has the flour already in it. I am lazy and this works for me. You can use a 9" pan instead, but I am not sure of the difference in baking time, so watch it carefully.
5.) Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. Just watch the top of the cake. When the cake appears set to the touch in the center, check it with a thin knife or a toothpick. When it comes out clean, it is done. It should look like this:
6.) Let it cool completely. It will fall a little as it cools. Don't worry. This is normal. It will have made it's own crust on the outside.
A few years ago we lost a very close friend of ours. She used to regale us with stories of Europe. This might be what nurtured my love of food (although this love, obviously started at birth). Aunt Sally (who was not my aunt) would rant and rave about how Americans' palates were ruined by sweets and would rather eat syrupy sweets than actually TASTE the flavors. I think that's why I fell in love with this recipe. It is by no means over sweet. It is creamy and slightly sweet, with an background flavor and aroma of orange.
Interestingly, we didn't have any regular oranges so I used Cuties as the zest. If you don't know what they are, ask someone with kids. Odds are, they know what they are.
The Topping:
I tend to enjoy a sweet topping. I AM a ruined American after all. Some of my favorites are:
Blueberry Sauce
Strawberry Sauce
Lemon Curd (I will post this recipe later. It is my favorite!)
We didn't have the ingredients for any of these.
What we did have, was a half a bag of mixed frozen fruit. This bag had peaches, pineapple, strawberry and mango.
This would work. This would work well.
Every fruit sauce that I have ever made was made like this:
1.) Dump some fruit in a medium sauce pan over medium low heat.
2.) Add a cup or so of sugar. This is optional...do it anyway.
3.) When the fruit is mostly melted down, add some cornstarch slurry. This is a few tablespoons of cornstarch mixed with a half cup of cold water. When the cornstarch is dissolved, pour over the fruit.
4.) Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. We don't want the fruit to burn.
When the mixture has boiled for a minute or two, take it off the burner and let it cool. It will thicken.
This is a picture of the resulting cheescake and topping. Notice the odd Glamour Shots glow to it. Maybe because it is so heavenly. I don't know. But, by all means, make this and let me know how it turns out. I have a feeling that you'll love it as much as we do. And, just remember that sometimes what you think is a mistake can end up a happy surprise.
Danny & Denise
