Fluffy, creamy, and light cheesecake made with cream cheese and ricotta and topped with chocolate covered strawberries.
My family goes to Capital Grille for special occasions and they make the fluffiest cheesecake. I’ve never been a huge fan of cheesecake because it’s usually really dense. But this stuff is like eating a cloud … but tastier. I decided that I didn’t just want fluffy cheesecake on special occasions, so I came up with a copy cat.
This cake is not difficult to make, but it is a little time consuming because of the bake time and rest time.
Before discussing technique, let’s discuss equipment. You’ll need a springform pan. A springform pan is just a regular round cake pan but the sides and base are detachable. You’ll need one of these because you can’t invert cheesecake to get it out of the pan without it falling apart.
Cheesecake can be tricky but there are few simple tricks to get it to turn out fluffy, and without lumps or cracks.
Fluffy Cheese
The trick to fluffy cheesecake is ricotta cheese in addition to the regular cream cheese. If you make a cheesecake with just cream cheese, it will turn out a bit denser.
Lumpy Frumpy?
2 tips to keep out the lumps:
- Use room temperature cream cheese. The ricotta is already soft enough that it doesn’t need to be at room temperature.
- Don’t be lazy on the mixing. You have to beat the cheeses together on high speed and scrape the bowl and beaters down a bunch to make sure it is smooth and not lumpy. Since cream cheese is significantly thicker than ricotta, beat the cream cheese alone first and then add the ricotta. No one wants to bite into a piece that has a giant chunk of cream cheese.
The Cracking Point.
While a couple of cracks won’t stop me from eating it, there are 2 reasons cheesecakes crack: a dry oven, temperature shifts.
To combat the dry oven, use a water bath. The first cheesecake I made had soggy crust around the edges because a lot of recipes tell you to wrap your springform pan in aluminum foil and then to place the pan in another pan filled with water. This is a good idea in theory but water leaks through the aluminum foil and then leaks through the bottom of the springform pan causing the crust to get all mushy. Blehh. The moisture from the water does help prevent cracks on top of the cheesecake though, so just put the pan of water on the oven rack beneath the cake!
To keep the temperature consistent…
- Don’t open the oven door during cooking. You’ll have to open it to check if it’s done but really try to limit the opening and closing.
- Cool the cake in the oven. So once it’s done, simply turn off the oven, crack the door open, and leave it in there for an hour to slowly cool off. If you yank it out of the oven right when it’s done, the temperature shift from 325°F to 70°F will freak the cake out.
Happy fluffy cheesecake eating!
- 1¼ cup graham cracker crumbs
- 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 4 Tablespoons butter, melted
- 16 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 15 oz ricotta cheese
- 1¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1½ teaspoon vanilla
- 4 eggs
- Decorations (strawberries, chocolate, whipped cream)
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Mix graham cracker crumbs and sugar together.
- Add in melted butter.
- Press into the bottom of a completely greased 9 or 10 inch springform pan. Use a the bottom of a measuring cup to pack it down.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown.
- Let cool for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Beat cream cheese on high speed until smooth.
- Add ricotta and beat on medium speed for a minute.
- Add granulated sugar.
- Beat the mixture on high for about a minute and then scrape down the sides of the bowl, bottom of the bowl, and the mixer's beater with a rubber spatula. Repeat this step at least 3 times.
- Add in vanilla and scrape the bowl down one more time.
- Add the eggs in one at a time on low speed. And scrape the bowl after the 2nd egg.
- Pour filling over the crust and tap the pan on the counter to get some of the air bubbles out. Wrap aluminum foil around the sides of the springform pan to help it cook evenly and to catch anything that may leak out the bottom of your springform pan.
- Fill another pan with about an inch of water and place on the bottom rack of the oven. This will keep the oven moist and prevents cracks.
- Bake the cheesecake above the pan with water for 1 hour and 25-40 minutes or until slightly wobbly and has just a few light brown spots on top. Try to not open the door during baking.
- Once the cheesecake is done, turn off the oven, crack open the oven door, and leave the cheesecake in there for 1 hour.
- Remove the cheesecake from the oven and let it sit at room temperature until completely cool, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remove the sides of the springform pan.
- Move the cheesecake to the fridge for at least 3 hours before serving.
- Decorate and serve.
craving a slice right now – nothing beats a classic cheesecake!
I wish I could send you a couple slices! It took me three attempts to get the ricotta and cream cheese combination right, so I have three cheesecakes sitting in my fridge with only one person eating them!
Made the recipe and it is outstanding!
Made this last night… I think I over-baked it, because top had a whole layer of brown, not as pretty as in your pictures. Its my first time baking cheesecake, and I guess what I took for too wobbly was slightly wobbly ;) However, even with that, this cake was delicious and definitely similar to the Capital Grille’s light and fluffy cake.
Will make again, just be more careful about bake time.
Thank You for this great recipe.
Glad it still tasted good despite being a little brown on top! I would guess that you probably either cooked it a little long or your oven may run a bit hot.
Can you use whipped cream cheese? I’m thinking maybe fewer lumps
Hi Camille! I haven’t tried this recipe with whipped cream cheese. While I can’t say for sure, I would be wary of substituting whipped for regular block cream cheese. The moisture contents are different for whipped cream cheese which may affect how all the ingredients blend together and could create a wetter cheesecake.
If you’re interested in substituting it to avoid lumpy cheesecake, I would just suggest making sure your regular cream cheese is softened to room temperature and leave it to an electric mixer to smooth the lumps out!
If you do take the dive and use the whipped cream cheese, let me know how it turns out!