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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 unsweetened cocoa powder
- 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 unsweetened cocoa powder
- 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
Hi Natasha,
The recipe calls for 1.5lb of farmers cheese, how many cups would that be?
Thanks
I believe it was 3 cups of cheese 🙂
I made this cake last Sunday. It is sooooooooo good!!! It came out great. My family loved it! I also added zest of lemon. It came out really good. Thank You!
I’m so glad your family loved it 🙂 Thanks for the great review!
Natasha this cake looks delicious!!! Im about to make it but i only have 1lb of farmers cheese. can i use another 1/2 lb of cottage cheese instead?
I haven’t tried subbing with cottage cheese so I don’t know how different it would be? If you give it a whirl, please let me know how it worked out.
How did your substitute go? I also only have 1lb of farmers cheese and 1 container of ricotta cheese thinking of using, wonder if it will work.
Hi Natasha! What is farmer’s cheese?? Can i get it at any store? Its called farmers cheese?? Thanks!
Yes it is called farmers cheese and it is sold in stores. It’s like a drier version of cottage cheese. I have a link in this recipe of how to make your own farmers cheese also.
Another amazing recipe! I love chocolate and farmer’s cheese! I noticed at the end that you removed the cake from the springform bottom. Was it easy to remove the cake and transfer it to a cake stand?
Yes, it came off easily because I lined the bottom with parchment paper and than discarded the paper :).
I made the cake, but something is wrong. Is the crust supposed to be crusty? I grated it and it baked for 35 minutes at 375. But it just looks uncooked, super soft, and runny. So after, I baked for some more but it didn’t help. Any ideas why? The only thing I can think of is I used gluten free flour.
It could be the gluten free flour. I haven’t tested this cake with GF flour so I can’t say for sure, but it definitely should not be runny.
this is so delicious thankyou for the recipe love anything with tvorog:)
You are so welcome!!
Hello Chef! Do you think it’s okay to make the crust a day ahead and just leave it in the freezer until I’m ready to grate it the following day? I’m excited to try this one and though I could make the chocolate dough balls tonight and just bake it tomorrow but not sure if they will overly frozen. Thoughts? Thank you ma’am!!
Its totally find to make them a day before and grade them on the following day :).
Thank you so much!! That’s exactly what I did. Reading all the comments about using lemon zest (and being a big fan of anything with lemon) I put lemon zest in the cheese mixture. The zesty aroma was so pleasant with each bite and I believe it really does enhance the incredible flavor and brings this scrumptious creation to whole new level. Definitely worth freezing your hands over while grating the crust. 🙂
How much lemon zest did you add? I want to try it next time!!
I’m a big lemon fan so I used zest of 2 large lemons but for some it may be too much. 🙂 Thanks again for sharing this wonderful recipe.
I’m a fan as well. Thanks so much for sharing!!
Could you freeze it and defrost later??
I’ve never tried freezing it, but it refrigerates pretty well!
Made this yesterday. I didn’t have cornstarch so i just added regular flour instead. Worked very well and the cake turned out delicious…gone in one evening!! =D And, I also love that this cake is not overly too sweet, its perfect!
THank you THank you Thank you once again. You always impress us with your new recipes Natasha:)
That’s great to know that it works without the starch. Thank you so much!!
Can i leave out the starch?
I have not tried making it without starch, so I don’t know exactly how different it will be. If you test it without starch, please let me know how it turns out.
Hi natasha,
Do u think i can make glaze from chocolate chips? and which way would work best?
My favorite melted chocolate glaze is with those chocolate truffles from Costco. Any chance you have those on hand? All you do is melt them and pour it over the top when it’s the right consistency (not too runny and not too thick).
yes, i actually do have some truffles. i will try that. thanks
Awesome!! I hope you love it! They are great for that and rolling cake pops too!
Hi Natasha,
This loooks really good. Do ou think I can substitute regular flour with almond flour? And what can I use instead corn starch?
Thank you
I used potato starch but I don’t know if there is really a substitute for starch since I haven’t experimented with anything else.
I use arrowroot powder, it works well!! It’s a great thickening substitute for starches. I buy mine at Sprouts and online at www.bulkherbstore.com
I’ve heard good things about it. Is it healthier than corn starch? It must be!
Baked it today. Turned out Amazing! Soo good! Smoked up my kitchen though.Some of the liquid leaked from my springform:(Thanks for another great recipe;)
I’ll add to the recipe to make sure the edges are covered with dough before pouring over your cream cheese and maybe bake with a baking sheet on the very bottom rack. Thanks Tanya! I’m so glad you liked the cake 🙂
talking about drops from spring forms…..I’ve made another cake in it and know that it drips & didn’t want to chance it :)…..So this time, I’ve cut my parchment/wax paper 1 inch extra added to the sides… This “drop proof” technique:) worked perfectly!! (so my diameter was about 2 inches longer overall). When I poured the cheese filling, I made sure I pour in the center, and it nicely filled my pan without leaking. Thanks Natasha for this wonderful recipe!!!
Thanks so much for sharing your method! You’re welcome and really glad you liked the cake 🙂
Lemon zest is crucial in a farmer’s cheese cake in our family! I think I emailed you a recipe of our version before… when you had just posted your cheese recipe.
I had to go back through my emails to find it. I’m definitely planning to try your version next time I make more farmers cheese. Thank you so much!!
I showed this recipe to my mom, she got really excited because she remembers making it in Ukraine 🙂 Trying it out this weekend!
I hope you both love it! 🙂
Wow looks amazing, can I use store bought farmers cheese?
Yes. 🙂
can you use regular cream cheese
I haven’t tried cream cheese in this recipe, so I’d have to experiment first before I said yes 🙂
I do the same version of zapikanka but without the bottom and top crust, instead of starch I add 1 package of cream cheese and add 1 teaspoon of vanilla, sometimes I add 1 large peeled apple, shredded on big hole grater, gives it extra flavor and you won’t even know it’s apple in there..
Oh yum those variations sound wonderful! Thank you for sharing! I can just imagine apple in there 🙂 Yum! I just purchased another gallon of discounted organic whole milk just for making cheese 🙂
hi natasha!!! love your blog!!! quick question…do you think this will work with riccotta cheese??? im just too lazy to make my own…and have some riccotta cheese… what do you think?? thanks!!
I haven’t tried it with ricotta 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.
Oh my, this looks fantastic!
Thank you Nora :).