Tangy Cheese Torte

Hey guys,

So, the first recipe was not so bad. It took a long time though. I'm not doing these in any order, so I totally just picked the first one to be a cheesecake cause there's this little German bakery back at home that has this exact cheesecake and it's my favorite dessert and I've always wanted to learn how to make it cause it's too delicious.

Ok, so I had to make a trip to the store to get the ingredients which were not really hard to find. I believe most of the stuff can be found at any grocery store. As a new cook, I did not disappoint to freak out when I got to the store and saw that they didn't have confectioner's sugar but icing sugar. So thanks to my little blackberry and Facebook where everyone is online all the time, I got my answer in 2 seconds and it turns out confectioner's sugar and icing sugar are exactly the same.

Alright, so this is how it went. I dried the ricotta overnight in the fridge on a strainer. The cheese wasn't so wet to begin with so there wasn't much liquid on the container the next day. So for those of you who were wondering about drying cheese, not such a big deal. It seemed to work. After you dry it though, all the liquid goes down the bottom so of course you throw all that out and strain the ricotta, it actually makes it better, softer.

So first things first, I followed the recipe to the dot and I started with the crust and let me tell you it is a bitch to make crust! I absolutely hate it, cause I never get it right. But I refuse to buy those pre-made crusts because it's just not real, you need the good stuff, with real butter. I've tried making crust from scratch for other dishes before and I never seem to get the right consistency to make it firm and not fall apart in my hands. This cake takes 2 pieces of crust, one on top and one on bottom. The bottom one wasn't so bad cause you can mold it to the pan, but the one on top. Oh what a bitch! Needless to say, I had to make an emergency call to my mother to try to fix it.

Then I moved on to the filling. That was the easiest thing to make, just whip out all the ingredients together, heat it up and voila you have filling. It takes about 20-30 minutes to make. There's two parts to making the filling. First you get the eggs, the sugar and the milk together and make a paste and heat it up. Important note on this part is to heat it up slowly and stir constantly and don't let it boil. Then you add the gelatin to it. The recipe calls for gelatin sheets but I couldn't find sheets, and the book says you can use regular gelatin. So I added the gelatin to the hot mix and waited til it was cooled off to add to the cheese. After it's cooled down, you add it to the cheese and mix it. Don't use an electric mixer cause it's too hard on the mix, the book calls for a whisk or a wooden spatula. I started with the whisk, but it was kinda hard to mix it and went with the spatula. Then you add the whipped cream. Don't use those whipped cream in cans, use the fresh stuff and whip it. It will taste better. For the fruit filling, I used peaches. The book says you can add berries or any other fruit if you want or leave it without any. I chose peaches cause that's what the German baker used.

So I baked the crust for about 8 minutes, and don't go over the time.  I think 8 minutes was too much cause as I remember from the  German bakery, it's not supposed to be crispy, and mine is a little crispy. Next time I'll try for less time. I used a spring pan to bake the crust, baked one piece, then the other. When the crust is cool enough, you can add the filling to the pan. Then you have to chill it in the fridge overnight. The book doesn't say how long to chill, but I looked online and most cheesecakes are chilled overnight, or at least a minimum of 4 hours. 

Then comes the hard part, putting the top crust on it. I definitely hate making crust! Have I mentioned that? So it broke but I managed to put it together and the confectioner's sugar on top covered the cracks! So it looks perfect! Cut me some slack, this is my first cheesecake! It looks absolutely delicious, and let me tell you, it was. The filling is so soft and light it doesn't really taste like that strong sugary taste of cheesecake. I'm telling you, you can eat piece after piece after piece of this. The balance among the ingredients is just the perfect amount. You can taste the ricotta but it's not that strong a taste either, so even if you're not a fan of ricotta, you can still enjoy this cake. The peaches were definitely a nice add to it. It just melts in your mouth. I still need to work on the crust, it should have been softer. I wish I could send you all a piece.

Until next time,
Trish...

Here's the recipe from the book:

Crust:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1 egg yolk
1 1/4 all purpose flour

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate for 1 hour.


Filling:
4 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
grated peel of 1 lemon
pinch of salt
1 cup of milk
4 2/3 sheets gelatin or 1 tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon powdered gelatin
2 1/2 cups dry ricotta cheese
2 1/2 cups heavy whipped cream
2 cups fruit of choice
confectioner's sugar for dusting


Mix yolks, sugar, lemon, salt and milk then heat it up on medium heat until just below boiling point (until it's thick enough to coat the back of the spoon). Add the gelatin and mix until it's all dissolved. Cool the mixture then add it to the strained ricotta. Stir until it's a smooth paste. Add the whipped cream and mix it all with a wooden spatula.  Add the fruit of your choice to the mix. Put the filling in the spring pan with the bottom crust and leave it overnight in the fridge to chill. Add the top crust once it's chilled, dust with confectioner's sugar and serve.