Italian Ricotta Cheesecake

I’m trialling a fabulous recipe in the Thermomix today. Italian Baked Ricotta Cheesecake – with almonds, chocolate and rum in the filling. Mmmmmm.

It was given to me by some Italian friends many years ago. I haven’t made it for a while but decided to give it a go for Easter lunch tomorrow and convert it for the Thermomix at the same time.

It’s a delicious dessert which I don’t find overly sweet, but still decadent all the same. It’s something a little bit out of the ordinary and very simple to make.

Here’s the recipe.

Ingredients

100g raw almonds

400g plain flour

100g brown sugar

10g baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

250g chopped, chilled butter

60g dark chocolate

210g sugar

800g ricotta

1 1/2 tablespoons rum

120g slivered almonds

Method

Place raw almonds into TM bowl. Mill 8-10 secs on Speed 7.

Add flour, brown sugar, and baking powder to the almond meal. Mix 5-8 secs on Speed 4.

Add vanilla, egg and butter to the bowl. Mix 5 secs on Speed 8 until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

Set aside mixture in a bowl and chill. (the mixture, not yourself!)

Add roughly chopped chocolate to the clean TM bowl. Chop 2 secs on Speed 7. Set aside.

Add sugar to TM Bowl and turn into caster sugar by mixing for 3 secs on Speed 9.

Add ricotta and rum to sugar and mix for 10 secs on Speed 6.

Add chocolate and slivered almonds and mix on Reverse, Speed 4 for 5 secs – or until almonds and chocolate in incorporated.

Press 1/3 – 1/2 the chilled base mixture into a greased and lined round cake tin. Top with the ricotta mixture. Sprinkle a layer of the base mixture on top of the ricotta – like a crumble topping.

Bake at 180 degrees Celcius for 1 hour. Cool before serving.

I find the recipe makes ample base mixture. I don’t use it all. I find the base is too thick if you use half. It is up to you how thick you make the base and how much crumble mixture you put on top. I’m just wondering as I write whether I could freeze the leftover mixture and use it as a base for something else another time.

I’m looking forward to sharing it with my family tomorrow as we celebrate Jesus’ Resurrection together.

Related articles

• Iced Lemon Ricotta Cookies (whattheflicka.com)
• How to Make Italian-Style, Mini Ricotta Cheesecake Pies Using Tuna Cans (instructables.com)
• Light and Lemony Ricotta Cheesecake (thesuburbanpeasant.com)
• Cannoli – Yum! (cookingwithchar.wordpress.com)