Baked ricotta cheesecake with berries

Written by Catherine Saxelby on Tuesday, 16 June 2009.
Tagged: dessert, healthy cooking, healthy eating, healthy recipe

  • Ready In: 1 hour 30 minutes
  • Prep Time: 30 minutes
  • Cooking Time: 60 minutes
  • Serves: 8
Baked ricotta cheesecake with berries

This recipe creates a light cheesecake which is not too sweet and makes the perfect summer dessert with fresh fruit. The filo provides a paper-thin outer shell instead of pastry or biscuit base and facilitates cutting.

Ingredients

  • 6 sheets filo pastry
  • oil spray
  • RICOTTA FILLING:
  • 4 eggs
  • ½ cup castor sugar
  • 750 g ricotta cheese
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla essence
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • grated rind of one orange
  • 2 tablespoons mixed peel (optional)
  • BERRIES TO ACCOMPANY:
  • 1 punnet (250 g) blueberries
  • 1 punnet (250 g) strawberries
  • 2 tablespoons castor sugar
  • 1 tablespoon Grand Marnier or other liqueur

Nutrition per serve

1000 kilojoules (238 Calories), 11 g fat (including 6 g saturated fat), 20 g carbohydrate (including 16 g sugars), 1 g fibre and 250 mg sodium. Read our nutrition rating system.

These figures are for the cheesecake alone. For the berry sauce, add another 10 g carbohydrate coming from an extra 10 g sugars plus another 1 g fibre.

Directions

1. Cut filo into circles of about 32 cm in diameter.

2. Line an ungreased 20 cm springform pan with filo, spraying or brushing lightly with oil between sheets. The filo should sit above the final level of the filling but this excess can be trimmed away after baking.

3. Beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add castor sugar and beat again until mixed in.

4. In a separate bowl, beat ricotta until smooth and add vanilla, flour, rind and peel. Combine with egg mixture.

5. Pour into the lined pan, smooth top and bake in a moderate oven 180°C for 50-60 minutes or until the centre of the filling is firm. Allow to cool and refrigerate before serving.

6. Cut into wedges and serve with berry sauce topped with sliced strawberries and blueberries.

To make accompaniment:
Reserve 3 or 4 of the strawberries plus a handful of blueberries for decoration. Puree the rest coarsely with sugar and liqueur.

Variations

  • If fresh berries are not in season, instead use frozen varieties.
  • For a different flavour, swap to 2 fresh mangoes (peeled and diced) or the pulp of 2-3 fresh passionfruit.