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★ Why You’ll Love this Recipe ★
This cheesecake is made with ricotta and mascarpone cheese, in addition to traditional cream cheese.
Mascarpone cheese is similar to cream cheese but more rich. And the ricotta creates a light and fluffy texture and offsets the richness. It's the perfect combination of cheeses to elevate your cheesecake.
Perfect for Special Occasions
This cheesecake is a wonderful way to show your love. Know someone who's love-language is food? They will appreciate this unique cheesecake!
Enjoy this mascarpone ricotta cheesecake as dessert to a wonderful Italian dinner. Try my Italian Sausage-stuffed Zucchini Boats, classic Italian pasta salad and sip a Blood Orange Aperol Spritz.
Honey-Granola Crust
To further level-up this cheesecake, this recipe incorporates a crust made with granola bars! It's homemade yet not difficult to prep. The granola bar based crust adds flavors of honey, oats and almonds.
No-Cracks
I'll also show you how to bake your cheesecake in a water bath to get a perfectly flat top — no cracks, no falling apart. It's easy to achieve when you follow the steps.
Fluffy and Light
This ricotta cheesecake is very light and almost fluffy thanks to the texture of the ricotta itself. It's not as dense and what you'd expect from a traditional cheesecake, which for me is fabulous! So if you sometimes feel put off by the density of a traditional cheesecake, you'll love this lighter version.
★ Ingredients You'll Need ★
The Cheesecake
You'll be using a blend of three creamy cheeses:
- Cream cheese
- Ricotta cheese
- Mascarpone cheese
Then you'll add: sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, almond extract and lemon juice. These ingredients bind the cake together as it bakes and gives this dessert a really nice depth of flavor.
That's it for the cheesecake! Pretty simple.
The Crust
For the crust, you'll start with:
- Granola bars and
- Almonds
- Then add a mixture of salt, sugar, butter and flour to bind the crust ingredients together. Everything goes into your food processor to form a dough and then that gets pressed into the bottom of your cheesecake pan. Simple.
★ How to Make this Recipe ★
This is an easy recipe to make if you follow the directions.
Here's a quick look at what's involved:
- Blend granola bars, almonds, salt and butter.
- Press crust into greased springform pan and bake. Sprinkle baked crust with sugar and flour.
- Blend cheeses with sugar. Add lemon juice, vanilla and almond extract then eggs.
- Pour mixture on top of baked crust. Wrap pan in foil.
- Place in cast iron skillet or roasting pan. Fill skillet/roasting pan with hot water.
- Bake. Cool in fridge. Add toppings and serve!
It's an easy process if you just follow the steps.
Check out the video beneath the the recipe below to watch, step by step, including the water bath.
★ Tips & FAQs ★
The texture is much more light and fluffy vs. the dense cheeecake you might be familiar with. The flavor is a bit different too as you might expect. The mild flavor of the ricotta blended with the more rich mascarpone creates a nice balance. Cream cheese rounds everything out with that traditional and more familiar taste and texture.
I personally don't love such rich and dense desserts so I really enjoy the touch of ricotta and the mousse-like quality this adds.
The flavor boost that comes from a subtle blend of almond extract, vanilla, and lemon juice might seem familiar yet with a twist. The lemon juice adds a touch of tartness which tones down the richness.
Finally, the crust is a bit more complex than your traditional graham cracker crust. The almonds add an earthy elements and the crunchy oats bring additional texture to this otherwise very creamy dessert. If you're short on time, it's totally fine to use a pre-made graham cracker crust.
There is a special pan you'll need to use to make a proper cheesecake — a springform pan. They look like this: For this recipe, you'll want to use a 9" springform pan. A springform pan has a bottom that releases from the sides after the cheesecake is cooked. This special pan is what gives your cheesecake the perfect, low-profile, flat-topped shape you see at restaurants but to really perfect your cheesecake, you'll need to bake the cheesecake in a water bath.
A water bath is an important technique that prevents the top of your cheesecake from cracking. It seems complicated and fancy but it's really not hard so don't skip this step! 
With a water bath you get a perfectly smooth and flat top to your cheesecake, like this:
Just follow the recipe directions below for more explanation and watch the video to learn you how to set up your water bath.
It's pretty easy if you use the right tools. Once you've done it once or twice, it will feel like second nature.
You want to use Nature Valley Oat's 'n Honey crunchy granola bars.
You can find these at most grocery stores in the snack aisle or near the breakfast bars. Most popular stores like Walmart and Target carry these. If you can't find them, a traditional graham cracker crust works well too. Or you can order Nature Valley bars on Amazon.
Yes. This cheesecake does need to be refrigerated and not left on the counter. You can store for up to 4 days in the fridge. Store in an airtight container.
After baking and cooling, you can freeze this cheesecake in an airtight container then thaw all the way through before serving. It can take up to 5 hours to fully defrost from frozen to ready to serve.
Helpful Tools
You'll need a few special tools to make this mascarpone ricotta cheesecake recipe:
Food processor
Springform pan - 9" pan for this recipe
Cast iron skillet - Larger than your springform pan to use for the water bath
★ More Dessert Recipes ★
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This Italian mascarpone ricotta cheesecake recipe was featured on South Your Mouth!
Italian Mascarpone and Ricotta Cheesecake
Equipment
Ingredients
CRUST
- 4 honey oat granola bars 2 individual packages
- ¼ cup almonds ground
- 1 tablespoon butter melted
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon flour
FILLING
- 16 oz cream cheese room temperature
- 8 oz mascarpone cheese room temperature
- 8 oz ricotta cheese squeeze to remove excess liquid
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 4 large eggs room temperature
TOPPING IDEAS
- Heat Nutella w/ a little milk and drizzle over top
- Cherry pie filling
- Caramel sauce drizzled with shaved chocolate
- Fresh raspberries or other fresh fruit
- Lemon curd
Mighty Mrs. is a #WalmartPartner.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325˚F.
- For the crust: Grind oatmeal bars and almonds together using food processor or a mortar and pestle. Add melted butter and salt and press into bottom of a completely greased springform pan.
- Bake for 10 minutes at 325˚. Let cool. Mix sugar and flour together and sprinkle over top of crust. (This prevents crust from getting soggy)
- Prepare the water bath: wrap the bottom of your springform pan with a single sheet of foil, going all the way up the sides and fold over along the top edge or the springform pan. This will block water from coming in. Place the springform pan into a roasting pan and set aside.
- For the filling: Beat cream cheese, mascarpone cheese, ricotta cheese and sugar in a large bowl until smooth. Beat in lemon juice, vanilla and almond extract. Mix in eggs one at a time. Pour cheesecake mixture into the springform pan overtop of the crust layer.
- Fill your roasting pan with hot water, half way up the side of the springform pan. Check out the video below if you need a visual on how to prepare the water bath.
- Bake at 325˚ until the center of the cheesecake is no longer wobbly when shaken, about 1hr and 5 mins. Let cool then refrigerate, preferably overnight.
Marie says
Best ever baked cheescake. Always a winner and great to take to friends & family gatherings
Angela G. says
So glad you enjoy the recipe, Marie!
Todd & Kelly says
Wish I saw the part about draining the ricotta cause it's been 2 HOURS and this cake is still doing the wave. 65 minutes just doesn't seem right to me, never made a cheesecake that didn't take a minimum of 90 minutes. You using a convection oven?
Angela G. says
Yes, you definitely want to drain the ricotta as it will be very difficult to bake out the extra liquid if you do not.
Mikelyn says
Same for me ... still has the wobble. Turned off the oven at 90 minutes, finally took it out to let it cool at 1:51. I *thought* I drained the ricotta but must not have been as well as I thought. We'll see how it shapes up after cooling ... I'm doing this for a lunch party (cheesecake requested), glad I did a trial run!
Andrew L Shores says
Incredibly good cheesecake! I used graham crackers and some crisp coconut cookies from Tate’s bake shop instead of almonds. Followed everything else and added a touch more lemon juice. It was amazing. I’ve never liked cheesecakes that set up like clay and this one is just the right blend of tender but rich.
Mirta says
Hello, I can’t wait to to try your cheesecake recipe. It sounds delicious! What size pan did you use?
Angela G. says
Hi Mirta, I use a 9″ spingform pan. If you use another size, the bake time may vary.
Margaret says
I would like to substitute amaretti cookies instead of the granola bars. Do you have any idea of the volume measurement of the granola bars once ground up or would the ground up cookies come to a cup - cup and a half.
Angela G. says
I would try to compare oz to oz. It’s 1.5oz you need. Hope this helps!
Jane says
Hi, can I replace the mascarpone with more ricotta?
Angela G. says
Hi Jane, You can replace mascarpone with cream cheese but not ricotta. Ricotta is pretty loose, you need a thick cheese to complement the ricotta, add richness and help hold the cake together.
Katie Guthrie says
I recently made this cheesecake for my roommate for her birthday and she loved it! I topped the cheesecake with a homemade raspberry sauce. It was absolutely delicious and light. Next time I make it I will be trying it with a salted Carmel sauce on top.
Thank you for a great/easy recipe!
Angela G. says
Hi Katie, I'm so glad you enjoyed the cheesecake. Your homemade raspberry sauce sounds delicious!
Annie says
Baking time took one hour and 30 minutes. No issues with ingredients or bath. Came out perfect. Not one crack
Angela G. says
Hi Annie, Thanks for the feedback. The cook time can vary depending on how watery the ricotta is. I'm glad it came out great for you!
Genevieve says
I don’t like almond flavor..can I eliminate that or add more vanilla...and would probably use the graham cracker crust instead...and no crushed almonds...what is your opinion...Not an almond fan..lol
Corrine says
Hi! I currently have this cake going in my oven right now but I too have noticed it’s taking considerably longer to bake. I just bought my ricotta yesterday and I made sure everything was at room temperature. I used hot water from the tap as hot as it would get for my water bath. I do have an oven thermometer and it’s reading the temp is correct. Is this normal? Did I mess something up? I’ve never made a cheesecake before.
Angela G. says
Hi Corrine,
How did the cheesecake come out? I think the cook time for people will vary depending on how watery the ricotta is. It's OK to cook a little longer until the center of the cheesecake sets. It shouldn't hurt anything to cook it longer as needed. Thanks for your feedback! Any tips for have for others making this recipe are super helpful and much appreciated!
Joan M Roubicek says
I had trouble finding the Honey Breakfast Oatmeal Bars.I live in a big city of Cleveland oh and now market knew what I was asking for please help . I tried several of our big stores
Angela G. says
Hi Joan, I use the Nature Valley brand which you can find at Walmart, Target and most mainstream grocery stores. You can also order them from Amazon. I've added a photo of the box with a link above, in the post write up. Thanks for asking about this! I hope you can easily find them now.
Grammasue says
@Joan M Roubicek, This is just a guess, but I think they are Nature Valley Granola Bars (Oats and Honey flavor). I see them in all of our stores here in STL. Hope this helps!
Randi says
what size springform pan did you use?
Angela G. says
Hi Randi, I use a 9" spingform pan. If you use another size, the bake time may vary.
Susan says
I am making this cheesecake for a second time and find that the baking time is considerably longer that notes. I checked my oven temp and it is correct. Have the correct size pan. What might be the problem? It is delish.
Angela G. says
Hi Susan, thanks for the feedback. How much longer is it taking until it sets? A few factors I can think would be the initial temperature of the water in the water bath, the temperature of the ingredients, the age of the ricotta cheese - sometimes water pools at the top and could cause the cook time to lengthen. If you can leave some more details for other readers I would appreciate it! And I will revise the recipe as needed to give further instructions if we figure out what’s causing the delay. Thanks again!! Glad you are enjoying the flavor. 🙂
Caitlen says
What size springform for this recipe?
Angela G. says
Hey Caitlin, here's what I use: https://amzn.to/2bpZDxJ
Though I think you could use any size just keep an eye on it while it bakes. When the center doesn't jiggle when you gently shake it, it's set and ready to come out of the oven.
Elina says
It is absolutely delicious! The only thing...my cheesecake cracked all over the top which didn't really bother me but I was wondering if baking it in a water bath could prevent it? Thank you for wonderful recipe!
Angela G. says
Glad you liked it! Yes, I would recommend trying a water bath next time. It really does work!