Ricotta cake, also known as Italian cheesecake or custard pie, is a sweet dish commonly served during Easter celebrations. It’s made with a custard-like ricotta cream inside a pastry or graham cracker crust, and can be flavored with honey or vanilla and topped with nuts and lemon zest. Ricotta is made from whey and is a common ingredient in Italian cooking.
A ricotta cake is a sweet dish that can also be called a custard pie or Italian cheesecake. This dish is commonly served during Easter celebrations held by Italian families. Ricotta pie recipes vary, but generally call for a custard-like ricotta cream inside a pastry crust. It can also have a graham cracker crust, similar to the cheesecake versions most people are familiar with. Ricotta cake is usually homemade, but can also be purchased at the store.
Because this pie is often in a shallow crust and has a top decorated with nuts, it’s sometimes called a cottage cheese tart. With some versions of ricotta pie, the filling is a bit heavy and thick, like a custard, while other ricotta pie fillings are whipped until light and fluffy. Depending on the recipe, the ricotta filling can also be flavored with honey or vanilla and topped with chopped walnuts and lemon zest. It can also be dusted with powdered sugar before being cut and served. In the store, this dish is easiest to acquire around Easter, when it’s used as a treat at many family celebrations.
The ricotta mixture is a combination of eggs, sugar, and salted ricotta to taste. The ricotta is usually drained completely before being used in the filling for the ricotta pie. It is then placed in a pie crust, usually topped with candied nuts and baked until the eggs are set. This type of pie shouldn’t be baked until the cheese is brown, only until the eggs in the ricotta mixture solidify within the mixture. Like custard, meticulous cooks often bake this dish in a double boiler to help it achieve a more even texture.
Ricotta is made from whey from the dairy production process. It’s widely called cottage cheese, but it’s technically not a cheese because it contains almost no casein, the milk proteins that create real cheese. To make ricotta, whey is coagulated using heat and acid, then boiled and strained with a cloth to remove extra moisture and produce the familiar cottage cheese. Famous for its role in lasagna, ricotta is extremely common in Italian cooking. It can be used for a wide variety of savory or sweet dishes, from white pizza to dessert ravioli.
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