This lemon cheesecake is a really lovely recipe that was kindly given to me by a friend who had a restaurant in Marmaris. It began as her Go-To Dessert when she ran out of ideas for different desserts on the menu, but in the end, you would have to reserve a piece of this wonderful lemon cheesecake at the time of booking your table!
I have eaten a very similar cake in Italy, the only difference being that it did not have semolina in it, but was made with rice. The outcome was very nearly the same – a clean lemon flavour twinning nicely with the ricotta cheese. I always think these two tastes go so well together and feel this cake / dessert can definitely be served any time of the year.
It has a refreshing lemon flavour and a firm texture, due to the semolina in it. This lemon cheesecake can keep for several days which is lucky as it serves 8 to 10 people and if you are like us, where there are just 2 of you, it would be a challenge if it had to be finished by the next day. Take a breath, you’ve been spared eating it all immediately.
We like to serve it with a little plain yogurt to balance it, but of course, cream or ice cream go beautifully too.
- Zest of one lemon - Use a vegetable peeler
- 250ml milk full cream or reduced
- 750ml water
- 50g butter
- 250g semolina / irmik
- 250g ricotta / lor peynir
- 4 eggs
- 300g sugar
- grated zest of two lemons
- 2 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
- Icing sugar
- Grease and flour a 28cm round cake tin with retractable base or a pie dish,
- Heat oven to 180C
- In a large pan place the peeled zest, milk, water and butter and bring to boil
- Once boiled, remove the zest and pour in the semolina
- Stir vigorously and continue stirring as it cooks on medium heat with a wooden spoon
- The semolina will become extremely thick and by 10 minutes it will be hard to stir
- Leave 5 minutes for it to cool down
- In a separate bowl, place the eggs, ricotta, sugar, grated zest and the vanilla essence, mix
- Combine the two bowls ingredients together and remove all lumps. Can use a blender if nec.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish
- Bake 180C until it is dark golden in the centre.
- This can take from 25 to 45 minutes depending on your oven
- Let the cake cool
- Sprinkle the cake with icing sugar just before serving it
Thank you for recipe.
http://alamode2cheznous.blogspot.fr/2017/04/blog-post_14.html?m=0
My pleasure Khadija. Your blog looks lovely.