Michelle Darmody: Get that ricotta with this classic cheesecake — and the mistakes to avoid

Irish Examiner

21-06-2025

Ricotta is a beautifully creamy and slightly sweet Italian cheese which is often made with sheep's milk.
It always reminds me of idyllic trips to Sicily where we have eaten it at almost every meal, in both sweet and savoury dishes.
The soft cheese is so intertwined with Sicilian life it gets delivered by its very own van, instead of the milk man calling, it is the ricotta man or woman that knocks on the door at sunrise.
To choose the best ricotta, you need to take its texture into account, it should be creamy, but also a little grainy, and have a really fresh, light flavour, with residual sweetness.
Chilled ricotta is denser and more creamy, while room-temperature ricotta is lighter and fluffier. For baking, I generally use ricotta that has come to room temperature.
You can make ricotta at home if you are so inclined, using fresh milk and some straining techniques. Toonsbridge Dairy, based in Macroom, make a wonderful ricotta from local buffalo milk.
This cake is a great base for adding flavours, even the addition of some lemon zest lifts it, adding a zesty new dimension.
Ricotta Cheesecake
recipe by:Michelle Darmody
This cake is a great base for adding flavours, even the addition of some lemon zest lifts it, adding a zesty new dimension.
Servings
10
Preparation Time 
20 mins
Cooking Time 
60 mins
Total Time 
1 hours 20 mins
Course 
Main
Ingredients 370g ricotta, room temperature
3 eggs
zest 1 orange
2 tsp vanilla extract (or the seeds from inside of 2 vanilla pods)
220g golden caster sugar
220g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
115g butter, very soft
40g light muscovado sugar
Method
Line a 9-inch round spring-form tin with parchment.
Preheat your oven to 190 °C/gas mark 5.
Whisk the ricotta, eggs, zest and vanilla with the golden caster sugar until smooth.
Sieve the flour and baking powder together.
Gently stir the ricotta mixture and flour mixture together.
Fold in the butter.
Scoop the mixture into your prepared tin and smooth the top.
Sprinkle the muscovado sugar on top.
Bake in the center of your oven for about an hour or until a skewer comes out clean and the top is dark golden in colour.
Allow to cool in the tin until cool enough to handle then gently place onto a wire rack.
Baker's Tips:
Using vanilla pods rather than a liquid essence or extract will boost the flavour considerably.
For the best texture use very soft, but not melted, butter. Having all the ingredients, including the eggs and ricotta at room temperature ensures they combine well, and the batter is the best consistency. The ricotta cheese makes the cake rich without making it too dense.
You can add a little butter to the tin before lining it with parchment to help the parchment stick. This ensures that the parchment does not wiggle around when you scoop the batter into the tin.
As with most baking recipes, it is best not to over mix the flour. To avoid over mixing, stir until it is incorporated but no more. You can use a gluten-free flour in this recipe, but the cake will be denser in texture.
When removing the cake from the tin, open the spring form clasp and if needed gently run a butter knife around the edges. Peel off the parchment and place the cake onto a wire rack to cool completely.
If your cake has sunken in the centre, it is probably because the batter was too wet, and the cake did not keep its structure during baking. If there is liquid in the ricotta before weighing, separate this and use the solid part of the cheese for the cake.
Sugar adds sweetness to bakes but it is also a preservative. This cake will last about three days at a cool temperature.
Three delicious variations:
Raspberry
Use 400g of raspberries in addition to the ingredients listed. Fold 300g of the raspberries in when you are adding the soft butter and sprinkle the rest on top with the muscovado sugar.
Pink grapefruit and strawberry
I like using pink grapefruit zest for something a little more unusual. Replace the orange zest with the zest of two pink grapefruits and use just one teaspoon of vanilla extract rather than two. Then fold in 350g of chopped strawberries with the butter.
Chocolate chip and cherry
Simply add a handful of dark chocolate chips and a handful of pitted cherries into the mixture when you are folding in the soft butter.
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