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This Farmers Cheese Chocolate Cake has a generous layer of farmers cheese sandwiched between two layers of chocolate crust and covered with a chocolate glaze.
I love that this cake isn’t overly sweet, making it less guilty. It’s perfect with hot tea in the evening. One of my readers Olya wrote in with this recipe. She called it a “Chocolate and Farmers Cheese Lovers Dream.”
I was sure happy to discover a new recipe for farmers cheese because it’s a wonderful cheese and easy to make at home. I watch for the organic whole milk to go on sale (just before it expires) and I use it to make Farmers cheese!
Ingredients for the Cheese Chocolate Cake Crust:
1 3/4 stick butter (14 Tbsp)
1 egg yolk
2 1/2 Tbsp milk
2 cups all-purpose flour *measured correctly
1 3/4 Tbsp cocoa
3/4 Tbsp Baking Soda
Ingredients for the Tvorog Cheese Filling:
1.5 lb Farmers Cheese (click here for a tutorial on how to make Farmers Cheese)
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs + 1 leftover egg white
1 1/2 Tbsp potato starch or corn starch
Note: several of my readers highly recommend grated zest of 1 lemon (I’ll try that next time!)
Chocolate Glaze Ingredients:
3/4 Stick Butter
3/4 Cup sugar
1 Tbsp Cocoa
3 Tbsp water
How to Make Cheese Chocolate Cake Crust:
1. Butter a 9″ Round Springform mold or a deep pie pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. You’ll preheat the oven to 375˚F, but wait until your dough is frozen to fire up your oven.
2. In a large bowl, cream together softened butter, 1 egg yolk and 2 1/2 Tbsp milk.
3. Sift in the dry ingredients: 2 cups flour, 1 3/4 Tbsp cocoa and 3/4 Tbsp baking soda. Use your hands to blend the dough together. Divide the dough in half and make two equal balls. Cover with plastic wrap and place dough in the freezer for an hour. Mine froze in 45 minutes on the very top shelf of my freezer.
How to Make the Cheese Filling:
1. Use a stand mixer or whisk on low speed to mix together 1 1/2 lbs Farmers cheese, 1 1/4 cup sugar, 3 eggs plus the leftover egg white and 1 1/2 Tbsp starch.
Assembling your cake:
1. Once the chocolate dough is frozen, take out one at a time (leave the second one in the freezer until you’re ready for it). Grate the first ball into the base of a 9″ springform pan and spread it out evenly over the base of your pan. Make sure to spread to the very border of your pan so the cheese doesn’t escape through the bottom. Pour your cheese filling over the grated dough.
2. Pull the next frozen ball out of the freezer and grate it onto a plate, then spread it evenly over your cheese filling. Bake at 375˚F for 30-35 minutes. Place a baking sheet on the very bottom rack or a sheet of foil to catch any stray leaks from the cream cheese. The cake will still be a little jiggly in the center when it comes out of the oven. My oven took 35 minutes to bake. Let the cake cool completely to room temp before adding the chocolate glaze.
3. To make the glaze, combine 3/4 Stick Butter, 3/4 Cup sugar, 1 Tbsp Cocoa and 3 Tbsp water in a small sauce pan. Melt over medium heat stirring constantly until smooth and sugar is dissolved. Let the glaze cool to room temp.
4. Once the glaze and the cake are cooled to room temp, pour the glaze over the cake and refrigerate to let the glaze set completely.
Top with some fresh fruit if desired. These were some of the few raspberries that are still growing in our backyard 🙂
While scouring the web, I’ve seen a few folks using lemon zest in this cheesecake. Have any of you tried it that way?
Farmers Cheese Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
Ingredients for the Crust:
- 1 3/4 stick butter, 14 Tbsp
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 1/2 Tbsp milk
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 3/4 Tbsp cocoa
- 3/4 Tbsp Baking Soda
Ingredients for the Cheese Filling:
- 1.5 lb Farmers Cheese
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 3 eggs + 1 leftover egg white
- 1 1/2 Tbsp potato starch or corn starch
- Note: several of my readers highly recommend grated zest of 1 lemon
Chocolate Glaze Ingredients:
- 3/4 Stick Butter
- 3/4 Cup sugar
- 1 Tbsp Cocoa
- 3 Tbsp water
Instructions
How to Make the Crust:
- Butter a 9" Round Springform mold or a deep pie pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. You'll preheat the oven to 375, but wait until your dough is frozen to fire up your oven.
- In a large bowl, cream together softened butter, 1 egg yolk and 2 1/2 Tbsp milk.
- Sift in the dry ingredients: 2 cups flour, 1 3/4 Tbsp cocoa and 3/4 Tbsp baking soda. Use your hands to blend the dough together. Divide the dough in half and make two equal balls. Cover with plastic wrap and place dough in the freezer for an hour. Mine froze in 45 minutes on the very top shelf of my freezer.
How to Make the Cheese Filling:
- Use a mixer or whisk on low speed to mix together 1 1/2 lbs Farmers cheese, 1 1/4 cup sugar, 3 eggs plus the leftover egg white and 1 1/2 Tbsp starch.
Assembling your cake:
- Once the chocolate dough is frozen, take out one at a time (leave the second one in the freezer until you're ready for it). Grate the first ball into the base of a 9" springform pan and spread it out evenly over the base of your pan, going all the way to the edges so your cheese filling doesn't escape through the bottom. Pour your cheese filling over the grated dough.
- Pull the next frozen ball out of the freezer and grate it onto a plate, then spread it evenly over your cheese filling. Bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes. Place a baking sheet on the very bottom rack or a sheet of foil to catch any stray leaks from the cream cheese.The cake will still be a little jiggly in the center when it comes out of the oven. My oven took 35 minutes to bake. Let the cake cool completely to room temp before adding the chocolate glaze.
- To make the glaze, combine 3/4 Stick Butter, 3/4 Cup sugar, 1 Tbsp Cocoa and 3 Tbsp water in a small sauce pan. Melt over medium heat stirring constantly until smooth and sugar is dissolved. Let the glaze cool to room temp.
- Once the glaze and the cake are cooled to room temp, pour the glaze over the cake and refrigerate to let the glaze set completely.
- Top with some fresh fruit if desired. These were some of the few raspberries that are still growing in our backyard 🙂
Notes
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
Hi Natasha
I love your website and many if your recipes are a staple in our home thanks to you! I made this recipe and followed instructions carefully but the top chocolate layer turned out so sweet you could taste the sugar even though I made sure it dissolved when cooking. Do you think this recipe would work with chocolate ganache layer instead?
Hi Ella, I can’t say what went wrong without being there, but I haven’t had that experience. I recommend ensuring there was nothing substituted in your process. I haven’t tested this with a ganache layer but it may be worth a try! If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
Is it suppose to be baking powder instead of baking soda? 3/4 Tbsp of baking soda for 2 cups of flour seems like a lot.
Hi Tatiana, 3/4 Tbsp Baking Soda is accurate. I hope you love this recipe!
Hi Natasha! I love all your recipes and this one looks great. Can I use paneer, ricotta or cottage cheese as a substitute for farmers cheese? Which would you suggest?
Hi Karin, I haven’t tried it with ricotta or the above mentioned so I can’t really give you the green light without testing it. Sorry that’s not super helpful. Ricotta cheese is more moist than farmers cheese so I imagine some of the ingredient proportions would be different if it did work. It’s a good thought, I just can’t say for sure without testing it.
Could you do recipes for Farmers cheese and sour cream?
Thanks for your suggestion!