Ricotta cheesecake is topped with fresh berries for a beautiful red, white, and blue dessert! This light, subtly flavored cheesecake is a lovely change of pace from a traditional cheesecake.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick spray and line the bottom with a piece of parchment paper. Set aside.
Combine crust ingredients; mix well. Press evenly into the bottom and up the sides of the prepared pan. Bake crust for 7 minutes in preheated oven. Remove and cool on a wire rack.
While crust is cooling, prepare the filling.
Place the sugar and lemon zest in the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl. Use your fingertips to rub the zest into the sugar until the sugar is moistened and fragrant.
Add the ricotta cheese, vanilla, and salt. Mix with the stand mixer’s paddle attachment or with an electric hand mixer. Add eggs, one at a time; blend until smooth.
Pour batter into prepared crust.
Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes (75-80 minutes) or until center is just set. Remove to cooling rack. Cool completely; chill 6 to 24 hours.
Arrange strawberries and/or raspberries and blueberries on cooled cheesecake. Brush jelly over fruit; chill at least 30 minutes to set glaze.
Notes
I prefer to use whole milk ricotta for this recipe, but have used part-skim ricotta successfully as well.
Do not top the cheesecake with the fresh fruit until the day you are serving. The fruit will not have the same fresh appeal and will add a bit of moisture to the top of the cake.
The apricot jam is not necessary for the fruit topping, it simply adds a little sheen to the fruit.