Directions
A lot of people are scared by cheesecake recipes: sometimes you are, rightly, afraid of calories; sometimes you think that behind us there is a long and laborious process and instead, cheesecakes are easy to do.
The problem is to choose the frosting, the top glaze that may be of chocolate or fruit, flavored with a sprinkle of rum, cognac or Port to make it even more lavish.
Do you like the idea of a Port-flavored berry cheesecake?
Well, I hope so, because today we want to give you the ultimate cheesecake recipe and decorate it with fresh berries and a layer of Port flavored fruit syrup.
Nothing difficult, it is the very essence of simplicity, but you could use this recipe as a starting point for your tests in the kitchen. The timing and the ingredients are for each cheesecake, baked means, the decoration you can choose it quietly!
Ingredients for making a delicious Port wine and berries cheesecake
- a 22-24 cm mold
- 350 grams of cookies
- 4 cm of fresh ginger, optional but adds a ton of flavor
- 150 grams of softened butter
- 700 grams of ricotta cheese or Robiola
- 150 grams of sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 100 ml of fresh cream
- the peel of half organic lemon
- 6 cl of Port wine
For the berry and Port glaze
- 500 grams of berries
- 400 ml of Port
- 1 teaspoon of corn starch
- 100 grams of sugar
- dash of lemon
How to prepare the perfect Port flavored berry cheesecake
A few tips before starting. First things first, the cooking: if you can bake it in a water bath the cheesecake will be much less “dry”, which might otherwise produce a massive, greasy sensation on your palate. Let us remember that we are dealing with a super fatty dessert full of calories, so the texture must be “airy.”
Second: cheese, it’s important, we are going to make a cheesecake, so try to use real cheese like Robiola or fresh ricotta cheese (pure poetry), avoid industrial products.
That’s all, there are no secrets to make the perfect cheesecake. A bit of ginger in the cookie base is optional but always welcome, in this case, it shares the same tangy berries’ background of berries so it’s a nice addition.
Lemon peel is highly recommended to break and refresh what would otherwise be a brick of monolithic fattiness.
Ok, let’s start with our cheesecake recipe. Put biscuits in a blender with a piece of ginger, mix and crush them, then pour in a cup, add butter to the mixture and stir.
Grease a cake tin of 22-24 cm and spread over the base of crushed biscuits, flatten, even helping with a meat mallet and a sheet of parchment paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
If you want you can also spread the mixture on the sides, it adds a nice effect and is super crunchy.
Put Robiola in a bowl and add sugar, then stir for 5 minutes, until the sugar has dissolved.
Add the eggs one at a time, not before they have been incorporated into the mixture.
When well mixed, add all the other ingredients and stir for 1 minute more.
Pull out of the refrigerator the pan with the biscuit base and pour in the cheese mixture, leveling with a spatula.
Prepared a tray with high sides, in which cooking the cheesecake in a water bath.
When the oven is hot, 170 degrees, bake the cheesecake and cook it for 50-60 minutes.
To understand if the cheesecake is perfectly baked take a look at the wedges, which should be cooked and well solidified, while the center should remain slightly gelatinous.
Switch off the oven and open the door a little bit, to allow the cheesecake to finish cooking slowly, it takes an hour more.
Remove the cheesecake from the oven and let it rest in the refrigerator overnight.
And we are done here: this is the basic recipe for making a perfect cheesecake, now it’s time to think about a delicious frosting!
Port and berries frosting we were saying… We’ve chosen Port but also apricot brandy, rum, cognac, Sagrantino Passito, Recioto, Marzemino are good companions.
If you use a wine let it reduce, if you lean towards spirits just deglaze the fruits during the cooking.
Put Port in a saucepan and let it go over medium heat for 6-7 minutes.
Meanwhile wash a basket of berries and (in a bowl) crush half of them with a fork, season with sugar and a dash of lemon.
Bring the berries to the pan and let them simmer in wine for 15 minutes.
When is ready, strain with a sieve pressing with a wooden spoon.
Put again in a saucepan, add a teaspoon of corn starch and cook until the sauce of berries will not have a nice syrupy consistency.
Let it cool for 10 minutes.
Pour the Port & berries syrup over the cheesecake, spread with a spatula and then decorated with some blueberries and raspberries to make it perfect.
What wine goes well with Port and berry cheesecake?
Serve the same Port wine you are going to use for the glazing or a dream in a bottle as the Tamellini Recioto.
If you want to pair a cocktail, just make a Godfather.
If you prefer a glass of Scotch, let’s add a bit of Lagavulin 16 years.
