Ingredients
Base
50g almond meal
90g diced cold butter
50g caster sugar
150g plain flour
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla essence
Filling
500g good-quality full-fat ricotta
150g cream cheese, at room temperature
150g mascarone, at room temperature
50g fromage frais or goat's curd (or extra 50g cream cheese)
220 raw caster sugar or caster sugar
4 large free-range eggs
1 ½ Tbsp cornflour
70ml juice and zest of ½ a large lemon
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 pinches sea-salt flakes
Blackberry compote
300g fresh or frozen blackberries or blueberries
1 heaped Tbsp caster sugar
1 Tbsp water
¼ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp lemon juice
Sherbet
2 tsp pure icing sugar
2 tsp citric acid
Method
-
Preheat oven to 160 degrees C fan-forced (180 degrees C conventional). Line a 23cm springform cake tin with baking paper.
-
To make the base, put all the ingredients in a bowl and use your fingers to combine and form a crumb-like consistency.
-
Firmly press mixture into base of prepared tin, then bake for 30 minutes, until light golden and cooked. Remove and cool.
-
Reduce oven to 150 degrees C fan-forced (170 degrees C conventional).
-
For filling, put all cheeses and sugar in a food processor and blitz until smooth. Add eggs, cornflour, lemon juice, zest, vanilla and salt, and blitz until smooth.
-
Pour mixture over cooled base. Bake for 1 hour, then turn off oven and leave cheesecake in oven with door ajar for 1 hour.
-
Remove from oven and cool to room temperature or chill 3 hours to serve cold.
-
Meanwhile, for blackberry compote, put all ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Bring to a bare simmer and cook until the berry juices release, and reduce until slightly syrupy. Remove from heat and serve warm or at room temperature.
-
To make lemon sherbet, combine icing sugar and citric acid and sift over cake. Serve cheesecake with blackberry compote.
Cook's tip
The ricotta needs to be full-fat, not the smooth type in tubs. Bring to room temp before using so it incorporates smoothly into the mix.
You might also like: