Orange blossom-flavored ricotta cheesecake

Not so long ago I spent a few days biking in Gran Canaria surrounded by orange trees in blossom. I thought it smelled so good that I wanted to bake a cake flavored with it. I found a few orange cheesecake recipes so I went on to try and optimize one to my taste.

I already posted a cheesecake recipe here last year which I like very very much. Here I am making it with ricotta cheese instead of cream cheese giving the cake a more granulous texture. I am also leaving out the biscuit layer underneath to focus more on the ricotta and orange blossom flavors. And finally I am including quite a dose of orange blossom water from Lebanon which smells so so good :-) So if you are looking for an easy recipe for the holidays, try this one! Happy Easter!

Recipe for the ricotta cheesecake

900 g ricotta
2.4 dl sugar
0.8 dl flour
2 tbsp orange zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
2.5 tbsp orange flower water
5 eggs
1 orange (quarters + some zest slices)
powdersugar

Beat up ricotta, sugar and flour. Add orange zest, water, and vanilla while beating. Add eggs 1 by 1 while beating. Pour the batter in a prepared (buttered + floured) springform and bake approx. 55 min at 180 C. Cool the cake at room T prior to refrigerating it for at least 3 hrs (preferably overnight).
Decorate the cake with powder sugar and candied orange zest slices (let them rest in some lemon juice + sugar). Serve with orange slices/quarters.