Curds and whey-hey

Never having been a huge fan of cheesecakes (controversial) – it was only this post by the lovely Imen*  and the knowledge of access to beautiful fresh goat’s milk from a nearby dairy that decided the inclusion of such a cake on the menu for our most recent Local is Lovely workshop.

And whey-hey was it good. Honestly, the tangy goat’s milk made the most beautiful ricotta, and thanks to our friend Lily’s recipe, this ricotta in turn made the most beautiful cake. Of all the good things we cooked at this most recent workshop, the recipe for this cake has been the most requested. So here, thanks to Neil and Janette of Jannei Dairy and Lily Hahn-Stevens it is!

*Imen is coming out to teach a Local is Lovely workshop at Rydal next April – whoop! More info here.

Goats Curd Cheese Cake

This recipe comes from the super talented chef and Orange cake queen Lily Hahn-Stevens and is, honestly, the best cheesecake and one of the best desserts I’ve ever had. It’s also gluten-free and super easy to make. Thank you Lily! We served this with a topping of fresh honeycomb and sweet dukkah. You could of course use store-bought ricotta for this cake and it would still be amazing, but if you take the extra 10 minutes to make fresh stuff, the end result will be lighter and that bit more delicious. Also, if you like a crumblier base and aren’t gluten-free, the classic crushed biscuits blitzed with butter option would also be great here too. Serves 8-10.

The base
180g almonds
100g tapioca flour
100g unrefined sugar
80g coconut oil
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 180C and line a 20cm springform cake tin greaseproof paper. Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse to combine, press into the tin and pat down so you have an even base. Bake for 15mins, or until the filling is a light golden colour.

The filling
450g goat (or cow’s milk) ricotta (recipe below)
125g caster sugar
100g milk
100g Greek-style yoghurt
1 1/2 tbsp gluten-free (or plain flour)
1 tsp vanilla paste
1 egg
2 egg yolks
Zest of one lemon

Reduce oven temperature to 170C. Combine all ingredients into the bowl of your food processor or mixer and mix until well combined (of course you could just use a big bowl and wooden spoon for this). Pour over the base and cook for 35 minutes or until just set then let cool and keep in the fridge to chill and set.

Goat’s milk ricotta

4 cups fresh goat (or cow) milk
Pinch of salt
Juice of two lemons

Heat the milk and salt just until boiling point then remove from heat and whisk in the lemon juice so the milk curdles. Let sit for 10 minutes, whisking after five, then pour over a sieve lined with muslin. Gently tie the muslin together then suspend over a bowl (I tie the muslin to a wooden spoon placed across an upturned stool – see pic) and leave for an hour. After this time you should have a beautiful fresh ricotta, store in the fridge for a couple of days. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.