Chocolate Lemon Cheesecake Recipe: Yogurt, Mascarpone, Ricotta

Chocolate + Lemon = Tasty GF Recipe!

Gluten-Free Chocolate Lemon Cheesecake

I generally like the combination of citrus flavors and chocolate / cocoa.  And, since I had some extra cheeses and yogurt to put to use, as well as some lemons, I decided to assemble this super-simple cheesecake.

The Recipe / Directions

When baking for fun, I don't usually take time to measure ingredients or anything since I have a fairly good feel for what works and does not.   But, I did keep a mental note of what ingredients I used, the approximate measurements, and how I went about creating this chocolate-lemon cheesecake.  The recipe is accommodating enough to not require much exactness in measurements, from my experience.

The ingredients I used:

• 750g (~1 quart) Yogurt
• 500g (~1 pint) Mascarpone Cheese
• 250g (~1 cup) Ricotta Cheese
• 5 large eggs
• 1 cup (or slightly more) Cocoa
• 1 TBSP cornstarch
• Lemons: the juice and zest of 3 lemons — if I had some lemon oil / lemon concentrate, I would have considered using a bit to boost the lemon flavor and impact
• ½ Cup Sugar — you may like yours sweeter, but I was aiming for semi-sweet in my final product.
• ¼ Molasses — I was using this to deepen the overall flavor profile and complexity a bit; you can certainly choose to use all white sugar, perhaps 1 cup, and omit this if you want.
• 1 TSP vanilla

• [Optional, as shown] A pre-made gluten-free tart-base, a product which I will review here later.  Fact is, I could have just made this without the base and it would be just fine and bake nearly identically.

The mixing and baking process:

I simply placed all the ingredients listed above, except for the cocoa (and obviously not the tart-base either), into the mixer and blended until nice and smooth.  The next step is to add and mix in all the cocoa at a lower speed (so as not to throw cocoa all over the kitchen), then finally raised the mixer speed and mixed thoroughly for a minute or so.  That's it. Done.  This whole process is very quick.

I then selected a 12-inch cast iron skillet, which may not be as "normal" as a springform, but, I like cast iron a lot and it worked quite well.  I covered it with a light coating of cooking-spray and placed the tart-base in the pan.  Next, I poured my cheese, yogurt, cocoa, etc mix into the pan overtop my base.

Place this into a preheated 325-degree F oven, and give it 90 minutes bake time or so, then turn the oven off, allowing the cake to remain in the still-hot oven another 15-20 minutes, then remove and allow to cool down to near room temperature before placing in the fridge.  This will yield a reasonably firm, yet smooth-textured, cheesecake with a deep chocolate flavor.  If you prefer a softer texture, reducing the bake time 15 minutes may produce the result you desire.

I created this on a whim, and I liked the result.  This recipe demonstrates how multiple cheese varieties, and yogurt, can be combined to produce a lovely cheesecake in a hurry.  And, it would be quite simple to alter the accent-flavor to orange if you choose, or perhaps even berries of some variety.

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.