We came across one of the most unusual cheeses we have ever encountered at the new Whole Foods in Cleveland, which looked like tiny wedges of lemon cheesecake. Turns out it was a baked buffalo milk ricotta, flavored with lemon, from the Puglia region in Italy. When the ricotta is baked it takes on the texture and consistency of a cheesecake! So is it a dessert or a cheese? Maybe a little of both…. When it is whole, the cheese looks like a round or bundt cake (which may vary between brands), and you can buy the whole thing or little wedges. So even though you will usually find this in the cheese section, we think it may be better suited to the dessert case. We also saw this cheese in the inimitable DiBruno Brothers in Philadelphia, so we are hoping it will be relatively common in cheese stores with better selections (or Zabar’s online). We think we have found the perfect dessert for cheese lovers (or cheese for dessert lovers)!
Eating The World 
I buy this at the Italian Market in Philly. Buying it whole is over $50.00 as it is $12.99 per pound. I can’t figure out why it’s so expensive as all it is is ricotta and lemon. No eggs, no flour. And I cannot find a recipe for measurements and bake time/temp anywhere! This is one of my favorite things to eat and I so wish I could make it myself. I have been experimenting and came pretty close, but I just can’t get it totally right. If anyone has a recipe I will love you forever if I can have it.
You should look up recipes for migliaccio, it may be similar to what you are looking for. https://www.thespruce.com/naples-style-lemon-ricotta-cake-migliaccio-2019125
Hi Cathy, I tried for a couple years to replicate the one from DiBruno Bros. perfectly. Was only successful once, but did have several near-perfect ones too. (Note that the Italian version does use Buffalo milk ricotta, which is probably unavailable anywhere except Eataly in NYC, but I found fresh cowmilk ricotta worked just fine). Here are two things which might help. First, look at the ingredients on the lemon ricotta at an importers’ site (www.isolaimports.com) . This was a big help to me. For the ‘perfect’ one, i did use Potato Starch; I replaced Sodium Alginate with a bit of Xanthan Gum which help stabilize things. But the real find was starting to do searches in Italian. Here’s the link: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=http://blog.giallozafferano.it/raffikaelesuemaniinpasta/torta-di-ricotta-al-limone-senza-farina/&prev=search and there’s a YouTube video as well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA2-F3uX6j8
Enjoy!
Robert