Italian Desserts Recipes - Special Italian Cheesecake (Torta di Ricotta) Recipe

Ingredients

• 225 g/8 oz short crust pastry (basic pie crust)

• 900 g/2 lb/4 cups Ricotta cheese

• 100 g/4 oz/1/2 cup caster (superfine) sugar

• 30 ml/2 tbsp plain (all-purpose) flour

• 2.5 ml/1/2 tsp vanilla essence (extract)

• Grated rind and juice of 1 orange

• 4 egg yolks

• 60 ml/4 tbsp raisins

• 30 ml/2 tbsp flaked (slivered) almonds

• 1 egg white, lightly beaten

---

Method:

1. Dust a pastry board with flour and roll out the pastry to line a 25 cm/10 in flan tin (pie pan). Prick the pastry all over with a fork and cover with a piece of greaseproof (waxed) paper.

2. Fill with baking beans and bake in a preheated oven at 200C/400F/gas mark 6 for 10 minutes. Remove the beans and paper and return to the oven for 5 minutes.

3. Allow the flan case (pie shell) to cool. Place the Ricotta cheese in a bowl with the sugar, flour, vanilla essence and grated orange rind and juice.

4. Beat in the egg yolks and stir in the raisins. Spoon the mixture into the pastry case and sprinkle over the almonds.

5. Roll out the pastry trimmings and cut into long strips. Arrange the pastry strips over the filling in a lattice pattern.

6. Brush the strips with beaten egg white and bake in a preheated oven for 1 hour at 180C/350F/gas mark 4.