In September, you can’t help but talk about grapes, and I’m doing so by offering you a cold cheesecake, meaning no-bake, filled with succulent berries of this delicious fruit. The grape cheesecake, in fact, is a very delicious fresh cake, very easy to make, scenic, very chic, and does not contain gelatin or jelly. It is suitable for all festive occasions, as a Sunday dessert, or to bring to a lunch with friends, etc. It is a dessert that should be prepared the day before, to ensure that the flavors and aromas of the ingredients blend and express themselves at their best. Furthermore, by replacing the dairy products in this recipe with lactose-free products, we will make this delicious cold cake suitable even for those who suffer from this intolerance.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 12 Hours
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 12
- Cooking methods: No-bake
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Summer, Fall, Autumn
Ingredients
- 7 oz dry cookies (also gluten-free)
- 6 tbsp melted liquid butter
- 5.5 oz cow ricotta (or 6 oz of cream cheese)
- 1 cup cup fresh or plant-based whipping cream
- to taste grated lemon zest
- 22 table grapes
- to taste grapes for garnish
- 1 pinch fine salt
- 3 tbsp powdered sugar
Tools
- Mold – springform pan of 9/9.5 inches
Preparation
1) Let’s start by preparing the biscuit base. Crumble the cookies into powder (using a blender will make it easier) and put them in a large bowl.
Line the base and sides of the mold with parchment paper.
If you don’t have a springform pan, do as I do: moisten the mold and line it with a first sheet of parchment paper, making it adhere well to the bottom and sides. Add a second sheet of parchment paper and try to flatten all the folds that will form. Both sheets of parchment paper should protrude from the mold; this way, it will be easy to remove the cheesecake without ruining it.
2) Melt the butter, add it hot to the cookies, and also add the finely grated zest of half a lemon (it will give a very fresh scent). Mix very well to ensure the cookies are completely soaked in butter.
Transfer the cookie mixture to the mold and cover the base. Level with a pestle or with your hands to make it a kind of uniform disc.
If you want to cover the sides with cookies too – thus creating a sort of container for the filling – you will need to use 10.5 oz of cookies and 6.5 oz of melted butter for the measurements of this mold.
Then put the mold in the fridge for an hour, allowing the butter to solidify.
3) After an hour, prepare the filling for our cheesecake. Sift the ricotta, add the powdered sugar, the pinch of fine salt, the grated zest of the remaining half lemon and mix.
Whip the cold cream from the fridge to stiff peaks and add it to the ricotta mixture.
There’s no need to use gelatin or other thickeners, as the cream will be very firm and solid, as seen in the cover photo.
Mix very well and gently, with a movement from bottom to top, then put it back in the fridge while we deal with the grapes.
4) Wash and dry the grapes. Cut them in half and remove the seeds. Set aside whole grapes for decoration.
5) Now let’s assemble our cake. Take the cheesecake base from the fridge and cover it with a layer of grapes cut in half.
Cover the grapes with the ricotta and cream mixture. Level the cream and decorate our cheesecake with whole grapes; put it back in the fridge for a few more hours before serving it with a generous sprinkle of powdered sugar.
If you use plant-based sweetened cream for desserts, it will not be necessary to add powdered sugar to the ricotta or cream cheese.
Also, if you use cream cheese like Philadelphia, which is already salty, there will be no need to add the pinch of fine salt to the cream.
