Tag Archives: Russian cake

Coconut Cheesecake (flourless)

  Hello guys! How are you doing these crazy days? Hope you stay home, safe and healthy. Sometimes I forget about this coronavirus situation, that I stay home not because it’s quarantine and lockdown but because I decided to bake something and spend time home…  I’d love to drive somewhere and discover a new coffee shop and sit there over a cup of aromatic flat white… I miss the beach, I miss paddling in the sea I want to go to the nearest supermarket without wearing face mask and gloves, and buy a freshly baked bun there and eat it on the way back I want to go to the park with my little one and run and play with a ball there… I miss everything, I miss the world. Sigh.
  I hope this will end soon somehow, and we will able to do whatever we enjoy doing.
Coconut_cheesecake
A few months ago I’d wrote that this cake with sweet dried cherries will be tastier… but today, today everything is different. I know it’s difficult for someone to come by to Russian tvorog but if you’re lucky to find pure one – use it, better 5-9%. I make tvorog myself: boil a large quantity of plain yogurt (or 3%-kefir/soured milk). As another great alternative for tvorog, Bulgarian and Cypriot cottage cheese works well, or Ukrainian is much the same.
Coconut_cheesecake (flourless)
Moreover, if you don’t have enough coconut flakes, keep them to sprinkle the cake top, or even don’t use it at all, and use plain white flour in the cake batter. Now you can see – that this cake recipe is very simple and can be adopted very easily. Don’t miss this incredible and tasty cake! Hope you will make it soon. Stay safe guys!
Coconut_cheesecake-(no flour)

Coconut Cheesecake (flourless)

  • Servings: 4-5
  • Difficulty: very easy
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*dried cranberries are also good
What you’ll need
400g tvorog/cottage cheese
70g white sugar
4 egg yolks
2 tbsp dried cherries, optional*
1-2 tbsp dried pineapple cubes, optional*
100g unsweetened coconut flakes
4 egg whites
a pinch of salt
How to make it
  1. Whisk tvorog with sugar and egg yolks.
  2. Fold in dried fruits, if using, and coconut flakes.
  3. In a separate bowl, slightly beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until soft peaks. Carefully fold into batter.
  4. Line the baking tin with paper, grease and pour in the batter.
  5. Bake in preheated 180C oven for 40 minutes.
  6. Allow to cool in the tin for some time and transfer to the serving plate. Sprinkle with some coconut flakes, if desired.
Enjoy!

Sponge cake with tvorog-cream and poached plums

 Hello to you, to a person who is reading this post or just glancing at photos of this moist and delicious cake with creamy filling, that was topped with aromatic spiced plum slices. The cake itself is a sponge cake, which is very simple to make and for that you need only four ingredients. I also added a drizzle of honey to the batter, honey gives a nice golden color to the cake and of course incredible flavor!
Sponge cake with plums and tvorog cream
 It has been ages since I made any layer cakes, so I decided to experiment with the cream. Tvorog is a dairy product, that used very often in Russian cuisine in such dishes like syrniki, sweet bakes and many other. Thus I took tvorog, mixed it with sugar and whipping cream, and I guess the cream became very Russian. 🙂 But I didn’t stopped there and added also gelatin to the cream. Honestly, it was my first attempt adding gelatin to the cake cream (with the exception of using it in panna cotta). I wasn’t sure that it would dissolve completely in the cream, and I beat it with electric blender. I love the result – cake was super tasty as well as the cream, and it’s gone very fast, especially if you serve it with some poached plums on a side.
 If you have any tips and advises how to add gelatin to a cake cream, please do share with me! I’d like to know and learn how to use it properly.
Sponge cake with poached plums

Sponge cake with tvorog-cream and poached plums

  • Servings: 6-8
  • Difficulty: moderate
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Using gelatin in the cream is totally optional (it just makes the cream more thick); you can easily omit it.
Ingredients
Sponge Cake
3 large eggs
100g white sugar
1/3 tsp runny honey
110g plain flour
100ml plum syrup (liquid form poached plums)
1 tbps cognac or other aromatic  alcohol, optional
poached plums, for decor
Cream
220g tvorog (Russian cottage cheese)
150g icing sugar
200ml whipping cream (35%)
8-10g powdered gelatin
50ml cold water
Method
  1. For the cake, in a large bowl beat eggs with sugar until pale and increase three times in size. Add honey and beat a little bit again. Sift the flour and carefully fold into the egg mixture with spatula.
  2. Grease 20cm cake pan with butter, sprinkle with flour and pour the batter. Bake in preheated 180C oven for 40 minutes.
  3. Leave the cake to cool in a pan for 20-30 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack or plate and leave to cool for 4 hours or overnight. Cut the cake into two layers. Brush each cake with the mixture of plum syrup and alcohol (if using).
  4. For the cream, soften tvorog with a folk or electric blender. Add icing sugar and beat until combined. Add whipping cream and beat again.
  5. Dissolve gelatin in cold water and leave for 10 minutes. Add to the cream and beat again.
  6. Spread about half the cream on one of the cakes. Layer the second cake, and spread the remaining cream on the top and sides. Decorate with poached plums.
Spiced poached plums
5-7 soft plums (about 200g), sliced
80g white sugar (or more to your taste)
250 ml water
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise
2 cardamom cloves
Method
  1. In a small pan, add plums and sugar. Add spices and cover plums with water. Heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring to boil, then reduce to low-medium heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until plums are soft. Leave to cool.
Enjoy!
Sharing with Angie FF#105 and co-hosts Lily and Julianna.
Sponge cake with tvorog-cream&poached plums
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