This Cottage Cheese Cake is so milky, buttery, and rich, you’ll be wanting to make it over and over. It’s one of my favorite Russian desserts. We never made it at home, but we knew the times when it would be available in the store, and we’d go down and stand in line to buy it. It’s perfect with a cup of coffee or tea and works for any occasion. Traditionally the recipe includes raisins so they are in the ingredient list, but my son doesn’t like them so I’ve been leaving them out (and left them out for the pictures). I like it better with the raisins though. You can also make it into a sweet bread instead of a cake by baking it in a bread pan. I make it both ways. Give it a try! You won’t be disappointed!
Cottage Cheese Cake (Творожный Кекс)
This traditional Russian dessert is rich, milky, buttery, and oh so delicious! It actually reminds me of pound cake.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Russian
Ingredients
- 2 cups white flour
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 2 sticks butter, softened
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 5 eggs
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup raisins
- powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Grease your baking dish and set aside.
- Soak raisins in hot water for 5 minutes, then drain.
- For best results, process cottage cheese in a food processor until texture is fine.
- Separate egg yolks and whites.
- In a large bowl with a mixer running on medium, combine butter, sugar, vanilla extract, cottage cheese, and egg yolks until well-mixed.
- Combine flour and salt and add to butter mixture a little at a time, mixing with a hand mixer on low until flour is fully incorporated.
- Combine baking soda and vinegar and add to flour mixture, mixing well. Set aside.
- Beat egg whites until stiff.
- Gently fold egg whites into flour mixture until it is fully incorporated.
- Pour batter into greased baking dish and level the batter.
- Bake for 35-60 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool. Remove from baking dish and dust with powdered sugar.
Notes
*Start checking your cake at 35 minutes. Mine was done around then, but it can take up to an hour, depends on your oven.
I am a follower of Christ, wife of a pastor, mother of a strong-willed little boy, and native of Russia. In addition to cooking and baking, I enjoy drinking coffee and relaxing on the beach.
Delicious! The cake has a delightful buttery taste and is perfect with a cup of coffee. Glad I took your advice and used the raisins – they add a lovely texture to the crumb.
I’ve been making this for a while, I found the recipe when it was introduced and fell in love with the cake, I don’t like raisins so I always substitute blueberries instead and it tastes so good, I just got reminded of it and will make it soon
I made this today! I boiled prunes and blended them with walnuts and brown sugar. I used it as a filling, that very old world and yummy. My daughter was impressed!
★★★★★
That sounds so good. Did you layer the filling with the cake batter or fold it in first?
This cake is so moist and flavorful! I imagined it’d be heavy but it was a perfect texture! I plan to serve it with thickened berries. Yum!
Made with a layer of fig jam in the middle and topped with cinnamon and sugar! Delicious!