Lynton Tapp’s ricotta cheesecake + chocolate tart

Ricotta cheesecake

Ingredients
900g Firm Ricotta
120g Honey
60g caster sugar
400g choc ripple cookies
140g brown butter, melted
pinch of salt
3 punnets of strawberries, finely sliced
Icing sugar for dusting

Directions
Preheat oven to 160 degrees fan forced.

Place the choc ripple cookies into the bowl of a food processor and blitz on high for 1-2 minutes until you have a fine crumb. Drizzle in the brown butter and add a pinch of salt and mix until evenly incorporated.

Grease a 21cmx31cm flan tin and place the base mix into the flan and evenly press out until the bottom and sides are completely covered. Set the base in the fridge for 10-15 minutes before baking in your oven for 10 minutes. Allow the base to cool completely before adding the filling.

Meanwhile make the filling. Into a clean bowl of a food processor add the ricotta, infused honey and caster sugar and blitz for 3-4 minutes until the ricotta is smooth.

Once the base has cooled it is time to make the cheesecake. Fill the crust with the ricotta filling being sure that you have an even distribution. At this stage I like to place the cheesecake into the fridge for an hour or two to let everything firm up before topping with the freshly sliced strawberries.

Ten minutes before you are ready to serve the cheesecake remove it from the fridge and pop it out of the flan onto a serving platter before you carefully line the top with the strawberry slices. Lastly dust the cheesecake with icing sugar and serve.

Notes
I like to use brown butter in this recipe to add extra moreishness to the dish however, unsalted butter works just as well.

Chocolate Tart

Ingredients
1 sweet tart shell
330g caster sugar
300ml cooking cream
200g dark chocolate
100g unstalted butter
sea salt flakes to taste (good quality)

Directions
Preheat oven and cook the tart shell according to packet instructions. Allow to cool completely.

In a non-stick pan over medium heat, add the sugar and enough water until the mix resembles wet sand. heat the sugar until it caramelises and is a deep golden brown. 7-8 minutes.
Once the sugar has reached this colour turn the heat to low and add the cream and whisk vigorously, being careful not to burn yourself as the mix will spit at this stage.
add the chocolate and mix with a whisk until it has completely melted. slowly whisk in cubes of butter. remove from heat and season with salt to taste.

Pour the chocolate mixture into the pie shell and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours or until the chocolate has firmed up. Cut and serve.