• Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Imagelicious.com

Delicious and easy recipes for busy people

  • Home
  • About
  • Portfolio
  • Ultimate One-Pan Oven Cookbook
  • Recipes
  • Instant Pot Recipes
  • Work with me

Russian Cheesecake

Published: August 13, 2015 | Last updated: March 5, 2019 15 Comments

FacebookTweetPin

This Cheesecake, just like many other recipes that I make, brings me back to my childhood. It was a welcome sight for a weekend breakfast or sometimes even dinner. I loved it hot straight out of the oven, or cold with a glass of milk. It was a delicious snack in the afternoon after I’d come home from school or playing outside and a few hours before dinner.

In Russia this Cheesecake is often considered to be breakfast food, not dessert. It’s also considered to be a healthy, even diet food. That’s mainly because of the magical properties that people attribute to Farmers Cheese. It’s honestly considered to be a panacea for pretty much everything including gaining weight and losing weight. I know, I know, how can the same ingredient be used for both? Well, if you are lucky enough to go to a Russian grocery store, you’ll see that there are at least half a dozen of different Farmers Cheeses available, starting from 1% fat and going all the way to 20-30%. The good thing is that if you are able to buy it, then you need the lowest fat version for this recipe. If you are not able to experience the wonders of Russian grocery stores, then don’t worry, you can make your own Homemade Farmers Cheese at home and although it takes a few days, it’s actually a very easy process. And, if worst comes to worst, then you can use ricotta too, just drain it for a few hours to remove the whey.

This is not a traditional american cheesecake. It has a different texture and different flavour. I was hesitant even calling it cheesecake, but I could not really come up with another name other than “Traditional Russian Farmers Cheese Baked Dessert” and that doesn’t sound that exciting, does it?

Russian Cheesecake

makes one 8-inch cake

Farmers cheese – 650 g
Sugar – 1/2 cup
Cream of wheat – 4 tablespoons + more for the pan (see notes below, can be omitted to make this recipe gluten-free)
Baking powder – 3/4 teaspoons
Eggs – 4 extra-large
Greek yogurt, plain – 1/4 cup
Golden raisins – 1/2 cup (optional, see notes below)

  • Preheat oven to 350F.
  • Butter the pan and sprinkle with cream of wheat so that the cake would not stick.
  • Optional step, but highly recommended: place farmers cheese into food processor and pulse for a minute to make it creamy. It doesn’t change flavour of the final product, but it really helps with the texture, it makes the cheesecake smooth and silky. You can also use a blender to do so.
  • Place farmers cheese into a large bowl, add sugar, cream of wheat and baking powder and mix well. I don’t usually use mixer for it, just use a spatula.
  • Add eggs, yogurt and mix really well until you get a smooth batter.
  • Add raisins if using.
  • Pour batter into prepared pan and bake about 1 hour or 1 hour and 15 min until it’s golden brown, puffed up and wooden toothpick inserted in the middle comes up clean.
  • Take the cake out the oven, cool for a few minutes and serve.

Comments

– I love using raisins in this cake and it’s a very traditional filling, however they are not needed. If you decide to make this cheesecake plain, then you may want to increase sugar to 2/3 cup or more since raisins provide additional sweetness for the cake.

– You can also add some other flavourings instead of raisins. This cake is sometimes made with dried chopped apricots or candied orange peel.

– Cream of wheat is also technically not required. I love how it adds crunch to the edges of the cake. It also makes it more “sturdy”. You could omit it and make it gluten-free. Texture will change and will actually become smoother and creamier.

– After you take the cake out of the oven, it’ll fall a little bit. Don’t worry, it’s totally normal.

FacebookTweetPin

Filed Under: Breakfast, Dessert, Recipe, Vegetarian Tagged With: cheesecake, cottage cheese, delicious, raisins, russian

« Easy Popovers
Trout with Lime-Dill Crust »

Comments

  1. Michele says

    June 7, 2024 at 1:53 pm

    Love your recipe! I made this with leftover Farmer Cheese and had only 336g so I adjusted quantities accordingly. Also, due to dietary constraints, I substituted ground up oats for cream of wheat and maple sugar for sugar. I also added vanilla extract and some cardamom. Love using raisins in this. I baked it in a 6″ pan at 325 convection for an hour. Came out beautiful! Thank y ou!

    Reply
  2. Rosalie Wells says

    September 6, 2019 at 11:32 am

    Could I make Farmers cheese in the Instant pot on Yogurt setting maybe?

    Reply
    • Julia says

      September 6, 2019 at 11:38 am

      Yes! In fact, I am planning on doing a blog post for this. It’s super easy. You take 2 litres of Kefir and put it in Instant Pot on KEEP WARM for 3 hours (not yogurt setting). Then you strain and that’s it. It’ll make a little bit less than you need for this recipe, so I usually just reduce the amount of sugar and eggs a bit.

      Reply
  3. Rosalie Wells says

    September 6, 2019 at 11:30 am

    Can I use homemade ricotta cheese instead of Farmers cheese in this cheesecake recipe? I’ve not tasted or made Farmers cheese but have tasted Quark, and didn’t like the flavour. But then, I use ricotta in recipes, but don’t eat it by itself either!

    Reply
    • Julia says

      September 6, 2019 at 11:36 am

      I haven’t tried it with Ricotta but you could definitely try. There are many recipes for Ricotta cheesecakes. I just don’t know how it’ll taste 🙂

      Reply
  4. Fantail says

    April 18, 2019 at 10:16 pm

    Do you soak the raisins in rum for example?

    Reply
    • Julia says

      April 18, 2019 at 10:20 pm

      I don’t but it doesn’t mean that you can’t. I bet that would be delicious

      Reply
  5. Chasity says

    June 23, 2017 at 11:10 pm

    How many cups is 650 grams?

    Reply
    • Julia says

      June 24, 2017 at 3:03 pm

      To be honest, I’m not sure. I think it’s about 3-4 cups but I don’t know exactly

      Reply
  6. Irina Shomova says

    August 21, 2015 at 6:48 pm

    In Russia, we call it "zapekanka")

    Reply
    • Imagelicious says

      August 21, 2015 at 7:17 pm

      Of course 🙂

      Reply
  7. Raj @ www.ThePrimalDesire.com says

    August 16, 2015 at 5:17 pm

    Mmmmm… cheesecake is my weakness. This looks awesome.

    Reply
    • Imagelicious says

      August 17, 2015 at 10:42 am

      Thank you! It’s not a regular cheesecake though, but it’s so so so good!

      Reply
  8. Amanda | The Cinnamon Scrolls says

    August 14, 2015 at 5:14 pm

    So I’ll be jetting off to Russia ASAP. Any place where it’s considered healthy to eat cheesecake for breakfast has my undying love and affection. This sounds great! I’m not a huge raisins-in-my-dessert fan, so I may take you up on that candied orange peel/dried apricot option. Yum!

    Reply
    • Imagelicious says

      August 17, 2015 at 10:43 am

      Haha 🙂 I actually am also not a big fan of raisins, but I do love them in oatmeal cookies and this cheesecake, it’s sort of a classic for me. But yeah, definitely you can use something else… or nothing 🙂

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

About Imagelicious

The person who created Imagelicious
Hi, I'm Julia and I love cooking simple, easy, and healthy meals. My favourite meal of the day is breakfast so you'll see many pancakes. Cooking and baking shouldn't be complicated, let me show you how.

IMAGINE VIP ACCESS!

Sign up to receive emails with new recipes!

Order my Cookbook!

Cover of The Ultimate One-Pan Oven Cookbook by Julia Konovalova

IMAGINE VIP ACCESS!

Sign up to receive VIP emails with new imagelicious recipes!

Archives

Categories

Looking for Something?

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

A proud member of…

FBC logo
All content copyright © 2008-2022 Imagelicious. Privacy Policy.