Cottage Cheese Cake

Cottage Cheese Cake! Not a cheesecake, this is a CAKE made with cottage cheese and it is bound to surprise you. Image this: cobbler meets cake meets crumble—it truly has it all! This cottage cheese cake is light yet somehow fudgy and is a fruit dessert at its finest.

With small pockets of sweet-tart, melt-in-your-mouth apricots and dollops of brown sugar crumble, this cake is unique and absolutely scrumptious. Aside from the fruit, this cake gets its flavor from browned butter, just a hint of cardamom and both vanilla and almond extract. 

What is Cottage Cheese Cake

This cottage cheese cake is a cake, not a cheesecake, and is inspired by ricotta cake. It’s a quick and easy cake that comes together with a bowl, whisk and spoon—no special equipment needed. The addition of cottage cheese takes the place of ricotta, giving the cake body and structure without making it “cheesy.” The small curds of cottage cheese simply melt into the batter and give it a lovely creaminess.

Which brings me to one final note, it’s key to use high-quality small curd cottage cheese—if large curd cottage cheese is used, the curds will not melt into the batter during baking and will likely dry out, giving the cake an odd texture. 

How to Make Cottage Cheese Cake 

Ingredients Needed

Aside from a few staple ingredients like butter, sugar (light brown and white), flour, baking powder and salt, here’s what you’ll need:

• Cottage Cheese: use whole milk cottage cheese.
• Sliced Almonds: added to the crumble topping. You can use any nut you like—pecans, walnuts, pistachios and pepitas (for a nut-free version) would all be delicious. 
• Cardamom: this is optional but just a tiny dash of cardamom enhances the flavor of the apricots. It almost goes unnoticed—which is the point. 
• Eggs: you’ll need three large eggs. It’s important to use eggs labeled as “large.” A large egg, out of the shell, should weigh 50 grams. 
• Extracts: pure vanilla and almond extract add depth of flavor and give this cake a lovely aroma. The almond extract is added to enhance the flavor of the apricots. 
• Apricots: one pound of fresh apricots are needed for this recipe, which translates to about 8 or 9 apricots. The more ripe they are the more flavor and sweetness they add to the cake. 

Step-By-Step Instructions

1. Prep the Streusel

In a small bowl, use your fingers to mash together the softened butter, brown sugar, flour and salt. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to use. 

2. Brown the Butter

Brown a stick of butter in a skillet until lightly golden brown and fragrant. Once browned, pour the butter into a heatproof bowl, making sure to get all of the browned milk solids too. Allow the browned butter to cool while you prepare the remaining ingredients.

3. Whisk Together the Dry Ingredients

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside until ready to use. 

4. Whisk Together the Wet Ingredients

In a large bowl, vigorously whisk together the eggs, cottage cheese, sugar, vanilla and almond extract. The mixture should be pale in color with a layer of foam on top—this should take a minute of whisking to achieve.

5. Fold the Dry Ingredients Into the Wet Ingredients

Add the flour mixture to the cottage cheese mixture and mix just until combined and a few pockets of dry flour remain. Fold in all but ¾ cup of the apricots followed by the browned butter. 

6. Bake

Scrape the batter into a 9-inch round cake pan or springform pan. Sprinkle reserved apricots over top in an even layer then pinch the streusel into dollops and sprinkle over batter. Bake the cake until it’s golden brown, doesn’t jiggle in the center when gently shimmied, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. This will take about an hour, though we recommend you check it at 55 minutes. Depending on your oven, this can take anywhere from 55 minutes to 70 minutes.

Serving Suggestions

I like this cake best when served slightly warm with a dollop or two of lightly sweetened cooled whipped cream. Between the cool whipped cream and the warm cake, it just comes together beautifully. 

A scoop of vanilla ice cream is also a great pairing. 

Because this cake is so versatile, it can also be served as a coffee cake with brunch. We recommend still serving it slightly warm but offering a dollop of yogurt and berries as an optional topping. 

Storage Instructions

This cake can be stored tightly wrapped in foil at room temperature for up to 2 days. For longer storage, store the tightly wrapped cake in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. We have not tested storing this cake in the freezer, but if you attempt to, we recommend wrapping it in plastic wrap followed by foil before freezing.

Variations

• We tested this cake with frozen pitted bing cherries, and while it was delicious, we didn’t like it as much as fresh apricots. If you do try this with frozen cherries, do not thaw them prior to baking. 
• We haven’t tested this with peaches, but we worry they will be too juicy for this cake. They may weigh down the batter with their extra moisture. If you try it, let us know! 
• Plums and nectarines should work just as well as fresh apricots here! 
• Play around with different extracts, spices and seasonings. Orange extract would be a fun addition to the batter. A dash of cinnamon and nutmeg would be delicious in the streusel.
• Use different nuts in the streusel, such as pecans, walnuts or pistachios. And to make this nut-free, use sunflower seeds or pepitas. 
• If you like our Strawberry Pound Cake, try this cake with the cooked strawberry mixture.

FAQs

More Cottage Cheese Recipes

• Use up your leftover cottage cheese to make a breakfast staple—pancakes! Our Cottage Cheese Pancakes are light, fluffy, and packed with both protein and whole grains. 
• Cottage cheese is a great ingredient for pasta fillings and lasagna! Try it in our Cottage Cheese Lasagna recipe. 
• Curious about the viral cottage cheese ice cream? We offer our review on this viral food trend.

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