Light dessert with Greek Myzithra cheese

A delicious light and fluffy dessert using the fresh/soft Greek cheese "Myzithra". A traditional unsalted cheese which is very popular all around the country for making sweet and savoury dishes. Myzithra comes in three types: a) the "fresh myzithra" which generally can be found in egg-shaped balls, b) the "sour myzithra" made with goat or sheep milk, yeast, and salt and c) the "aged myzithra" (or "dried" ) which is the hard and salty type of this cheese and resembles slightly the italian parmesan and pecorino romano. It is not a difficult recipe to put together and if you can not find Greek myzithra then you can substitute with mascarpone or ricotta cheese. An excellent idea to end a dinner in a Summer evening

Recipe of Kostas Tsigas,

from "Cook Book" magazine of "ETHNOS" newspaper

Ingredients (for 4-6 people):
500gr. of fresh, soft Myzithra cheese
2 tea-cups of sugar
1 tbsp of butter, room temperature
1/4 tea-cup of single cream
3 eggs
1 tsp of vanilla extract
2 tbsp of orange juice

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Using your fingers grease well a springform cake tin of 18cm diam. with the butter and line the bottom with a piece of baking paper.

In the bowl of a standing mixer put the cheese, the sugar, the cream, the eggs, the orange juice and the vanilla and beat very well for about 5 minutes until you have a smooth, well blended mixture.

Empty the cheese mixture into the tin and smooth the surface with a spatula.

Put in the oven and bake for 1 hour, until the cheesecake gets a nice colour on the surface and it has slightly thickened.

Take out of the oven and leave in the tin to cool down for about 30 minutes.

When cold, cover with cling film and leave in the fridge for 3 hours until it is well settled and has thickened before you serve.