Cheesecake help please!

[Pounamu]

Hello, after a bit of help with cheesecakes please. I would like to make one for a gathering tomorrow but have never made one.
I bought loads of ricotta this morning on the advice of a Mary Berry recipe which I'm now not sure of. I've found another couple of recipes I could try but they call for cream cheese? Silly question but is ricotta a type of cream cheese?
Also - will it keep if I make it today in time for tomorrow?
Thanks for any help

or alternatively has anyone tried the Continental cheesecake from Mary Berry's Baking Bible? Would you recommend it?

I have used the Juniors restaurant recipe for years and it is faultless. It has a sponge base but I sometimes substitute a biscuit base-any standard one will do. This cheesecake makes everybody who has tasted it swoon.

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.recipesecrets.net/forums/recipe-exchange/24608-juniors-famous-no-1-cheesecake-5-variations.htmlake" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.recipesecrets.net/forums/recipe-exchange/24608-juniors-famous-no-1-cheesecake-5-variations.htmlake

Here is a ricotta based recipe. Ricotta and cream cheese are quite different in that ricotta is much lighter in texture and made from the left over cheese making by product, whey.Because it is not made via the process of casein coagulation, it is safe to eat by folks with casein intolerance. Ricotta means 're cooked' and is formed by heating the whey left overs to form lightly coagulated curds. It has a short shelf life. Many cheesecake recipes using it do not have the more commonly seen biscuit or sponge bases.

allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/4528/sicilian-ricotta-cheesecake.aspx

And I have also made this flavoured cheesecake-

lynnsmythe.suite101.com/lemon-ricotta-cheesecake-a104408

Sorry that first link is wrong. I'll try again-

www.shareware123.com/articles/part24/juniors_cheesecake.htm

Ahh OK so best not substitute one for the other then. I am having a go at the Mary Berry one now I have decided because I can't bear to waste all that ricotta and wouldn't know what else to do with it.

Fingers crossed it turns out well. Thanks for your help

Good luck. Yes you are right-subbing doesn't work.