Berry Base

With the official kick-off of berry season, one has to come up with a carrier for nature’s candy. I mean, you could simply sit there with a bowlful of washed fruit shamelessly eating them in all their ripe glory, but there’s a reason strawberry shortcake is a timeless classic.

I could do an entire Forrest & Bubba scene with nothing but strawberries—jam, pie, ice cream, whipped cream—you get the point. But my favorite dessert to make for a base of all things berry is cheesecake.

Last week my gluten-free sibling visited so I responded in kind with a Basque-style Ricotta Cheesecake to go with some of the very first ripe strawberries of the season. In my opinion, special dinners should be topped off with a made-from-scratch (and ingredients from the farmers market) dessert.  

There are numerous styles of cheesecake to fit anyone’s dietary preferences—ones with bottom crusts, ones without, ones sweetened solely with honey and maple syrup, dense creamy ones, light fluffy ones, ones made only with egg yolks and others with whole eggs, baked and unbaked.

Cheesecakes are believed to have originated in ancient Greece made from the fresh cheeses of sheep and goats along with eggs and honey. First used as the original energy food, cheesecake was fed to competitors at the very first Olympic Games in 776 BC.  The Romans turned it into a dessert with the addition of eggs. As they marched across Europe, so did the variations of the dish, making prominent appearances in English, Jewish, and Italian cuisines.

Cheesecake became wildly popular in America after the invention of cream cheese in 1872 when William Lawrence (from New York) was attempting to recreate the French style fresh cheese, Neufchatel. Hence, New York style cheesecake since other regional types up until then used lighter fresh cheeses such as ricotta, cottage cheese, quark, or mascarpone.  

I’ve been a huge fan of cheesecakes for many years. Fact: my recipe for the Bumblebee’s Drunken Cheesecake appears in Larry and Honey Zisman’s classic, The 50 Best Cheesecakes in the World, a gold standard back in my restaurant days. But that’s a bomb of a dessert more suited for serving 16 than six with only a few leftover pieces, which is manageable.

My favorite style and the one that has become my standard base for all the berries and fruits throughout the year is Basque, which is a crustless variety originating in Spain.  Traditionally cooked at a high temperature of 400° or more, the creamy custard-like cake caramelizes, puffs up on the edges, and sinks into a smooth, milky paste creating a perfect well for whatever berry is in season. Another reason I like this style of recipe is it does not require a bain-marie. I’ve had one too many water bath failures to attempt the New York style while ruining several pounds of premium dairy products.

Cheesecakes are just as much about technique as they are about ingredients. Die-hards swear by using only a springform pan, which is a specialized baking gadget with straight high sides and a removable base that works with a buckle mechanism. Throughout the years I have amassed several ranging in sizes from 6-12 inches and made from assorted materials. My preference is the one with the glass bottom. Some bakers prefer precision circles of parchment paper to carpet the bottom, especially if you are making one with a Grahm cracker or chocolate cookie crumb crust. Ladyfingers soaked in Grand Marnier makes a decadent crust, too.  Me? I scrunch in a few sheets torn from the roll if parchment paper and slather it in butter before dumping in the raw batter.  

Her is the basic recipe for my Basque-style Ricotta cheesecake on which an entire season of berries will eventually rest. Life is too short to eat bad food.

Central Farm Market Cheesecake for Fresh Berries

Ingredients

1-pint fresh Ricotta Cheese

2 packages cream cheese or 1-pound chèvre

1 pint yogurt or sour cream 

1 cup sugar

½ cup honey

4 whole eggs

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla paste

¼ cup corn starch

8 ounces melted butter (cooled)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400° F

Assemble a 9-inch springform pan completely lined with a large square of parchment paper. Butter generously with melted butter.

Whip ricotta and cream cheese in stand mixer until smooth. Add in remaining ingredients one at a time, including any leftover melted butter.

Pour batter into parchment lined pan.

Bake for 50-60 minutes until the cake is a caramelized brown color.

Turn off oven and allow cake to cook for a few hours before removing it from the oven.

Serve with fresh berries from the farmers market and enjoy!