Cottage Cheese Cake

Name: Cottage Cheese Cake with Raisins and Orange Zest
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Homemade cottage cheese 350 g; Flour 250 g; Butter 120 g; Sugar 250 g; Eggs 3; Raisins (seedless) 100 g; Orange liqueur 2–3 tbsp; Orange zest 1–2 tsp (2–4 g); Baking powder as directed on the package; Vanilla extract to taste; Vegetable oil for greasing the pan; Powdered sugar for dusting

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A homemade cottage cheese cake is a fairly easy bake. As a rule, it’s made from a so-called “butter” sponge batter with cottage cheese added, which gives the cake its name. It’s usually made without yeast, although there are plenty of versions that use baker’s or brewer’s yeast.

Cakes like this have ancient roots. Long ago, nuts, dried fruit and berries went into the batter. Given that sugar appeared relatively recently, the sweetness came from fruit and honey. Often the ingredients depend heavily on local traditions and what’s available: citrus zest, raisins (the most common add-in), almonds, and nuts like walnuts, cashews or hazelnuts.

When I was little, these cakes looked like a rectangular loaf of bread. That’s how my mom and grandmother baked them. When my daughter and I bake them, we use a round tube pan that leaves a big hole in the middle. You can see cakes shaped like that in old cookbooks. We usually dust ours with powdered sugar. But if you like, you can make a glaze or fondant icing, like for a rum baba.

If the batter is yeast-free, you need a leavening agent. Otherwise the cottage cheese cake will come out dense and sunken. People often make do with plain baking soda, but it’s very hard to get the soda and acid right, so the baked goods end up with an aftertaste. It’s better to use store-bought baking powder: all its components are precisely measured, and the result is guaranteed.

If you can, buy homemade farmers’ market cottage cheese. If it’s crumbly and large-curd, to my taste that’s ideal: the cake will be studded with bits of cheese. Smooth store-bought cottage cheese practically disappears in baking.

The base of this cake is a sponge batter, made from flour, sugar and eggs. For cakes like this, butter, baking powder and flavorings such as vanilla, zest or liqueur go in too. Usually only raisins are added to the batter before baking, as in the popular “Stolichny” raisin cake. But nobody’s stopping you from using candied peel, dried fruit or berries. The cake stays fresh for several days, though it’s best eaten right away, while still a little warm.

An easy recipe for a cake made with homemade cottage cheese and raisins.

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Ingredients

4–6 servings

Homemade cottage cheese 350 g
Flour 250 g
Butter 120 g
Sugar 250 g
Eggs 3
Raisins (seedless) 100 g
Orange liqueur 2–3 tbsp
Orange zest 1–2 tsp (2–4 g)
Baking powder as directed on the package
Vanilla extract to taste
Vegetable oil for greasing the pan
Powdered sugar for dusting

Step-by-step recipe

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Making the batter

For a soft cottage cheese cake, you need butter in the batter. A sponge batter is easiest to mix with a mixer for a smooth result.
Take the butter out of the fridge ahead of time to soften at room temperature. Ahead of time, soak the raisins in hot water with 2–3 tbsp orange liqueur.
Put the sugar and softened butter in the mixer bowl and crack in the eggs. Mix all the ingredients on low speed. The mixture should be smooth and the sugar dissolved.
Add the cottage cheese. You don’t have to break it up: you can leave fairly large pieces, which is how I like this cake best. If the cottage cheese is wet and a bit runny, squeeze it out lightly. Grate in 1–2 tsp orange zest (2–4 g) and add liquid vanilla extract to taste. Mix the cottage cheese, zest and egg mixture.
Sift the wheat flour into a bowl and mix it with the required amount of baking powder. The package says how much flour it’s meant for. Add the flour to the mixer bowl and mix the batter very thoroughly.
Drain the raisins, add a scant 1 tbsp flour (10 g) and toss. Add the raisins to the batter and fold them in gently with a spoon or spatula.

Baking

We bake it in a round metal tube pan that makes a hole right through the middle of the cake. The cottage cheese cake comes out looking like a torte.
Generously grease the whole inside of the pan with vegetable oil. Put all the cottage cheese batter into the pan, press it down lightly and smooth it with a spatula.
Preheat the oven to 180–190 °C. Put the pan in the oven and bake for 40–45 minutes.
As a rule, that’s enough time. But keep in mind that it takes a while to heat through the whole mass, more than a kilogram of batter. So quite often the baking time can stretch to an hour.
Check for doneness. It’s easy to tell by how firm the cake is and with a toothpick: baked batter leaves no traces on the wood.

Serving

Take the pan out of the oven and let it cool a little. Turn the pan over so the cake drops out onto a plate or board. The top browns during baking but doesn’t burn. Dust the cake generously with powdered sugar.
Cut the cake with a very sharp knife so it doesn’t get squashed. Serve the cottage cheese cake slightly warm, without letting it cool completely. Fresh baking is the tastiest.

Calories and macros

990 kcal

Serving ≈ 280 g

Protein27 g11% of kcal
Fat36 g34% of kcal
Carbs135 g55% of kcal

100 g353 kcalProtein 9.6 gFat 13 gCarbs 48.1 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

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To Get It Right

Which cottage cheese to use

Homemade farmers’ market cottage cheese is best: crumbly and large-curd, so the cake comes out studded with bits of cheese. Smooth store-bought cottage cheese practically disappears in baking.

If the cake seems too sweet

With 250 g sugar, the cake is quite sweet. If you prefer less sweet baking, you can cut the sugar to 180–200 g.

Instead of raisins and powdered sugar

in a cottage cheese cake, instead of raisins or along with them: candied peel, dried fruit, berries, nuts;
instead of powdered sugar: a glaze or fondant icing, like for a rum baba.

How long it keeps

A cottage cheese cake stays fresh for several days, but it’s best on the first day, while still a little warm.

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Questions and answers

How long do you bake a cottage cheese cake in the oven?

40–45 minutes at 180–190 °C. There’s more than a kilogram of batter, so sometimes it takes up to an hour. Check with a toothpick: it comes out dry when the cake is done.

What’s the secret to a fluffy cottage cheese cake?

Store-bought baking powder. Without it, the cake comes out dense and sunken, and with baking soda it’s hard to get the amount right, so the cake ends up with an aftertaste. Check the package for how much to use: baking powders differ, so there’s no universal answer.

How do you make a cottage cheese cake moist?

Don’t overbake it: start checking with a toothpick at 40 minutes and take it out as soon as the toothpick comes out dry. Butter also keeps the cake soft, so don’t cut back on it.

Can you make a cottage cheese cake without butter?

The butter is what keeps the cake soft. Readers also bake it with margarine, melting it instead of softening it, and they like the result too.

Can you bake cottage cheese cakes in small molds?

Yes, this batter makes individual cakes too. In small molds they bake faster: readers say in about 35 minutes.

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