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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. 
Very delicious!!!! and I added milk instead of water making glaze.
thank you Natasha for sharing this with us!
You’re welcome! Thank you too for sharing that with us and for giving this recipe great feedback.
Great recipe! Made this before. :)) Have a quick question though, I want to make this for our christmas party, how far in advance can you prepare it for it to be still in good condition?
I haven’t had it stored for more than a day but it was still just as good coming out of the fridge. If you try it for longer, I would love to know how you like that!
Hello Natasha, I had a quick question. I baked the cake (which was amazing) but i had a hard time taking it off from the bottom of the cake pan without the cake starting to break. So i ended up leaving the cake with the parchment paper and the bottom of the cake pan. Do you know what i can do to solve this? Thanks for the recipe:)
Hi Martha, I’m so glad you enjoyed the cake! 🙂 The parchment paper should slide off fairly easily – make sure to use parchment paper and not wax paper. Also, adding a little butter to the bottom of the pan before the ring of parchment helps. I use a thin spatula to get under the crust and lift the cake with parchment paper from the cake pan. I hope that helps!
hi this cake looked yum so i just made it ..first of all how important is it to freeze the dough for an hour ..?couldnt i have just placed the dough on bottom and top of pan and baked right away with the filling..?also i baked for 35 min let it cool and cut a slice to try and the filling was all runny and not done ..i checked online for other farmer cheese recipes and they say closer to an hour baking time so i put back in oven for 15 min ..i hope its good.. my oven temperature is good so wondering if theres a mistake in the baking time or if anyone else had a problem like that .. thanks
Hi Rachel, I am always happy to help troubleshot. It is important to freeze the dough first. I wonder if maybe you baked in a smaller pan which would result in a taller cake and requiring a longer bake time? Also, you baked at 375˚F?
This is my one of my favorite cakes to make and to eat. I made it about 5-6 times now, its super easy and everyone loves it. I read the recommendation about lemon zest and I tried it once, but I think I put too much, and the zest taste was a bit too much for me, so I just follow the recipe as is now.
Thanks for a great recipe!!
Jen, thank you for such a nice review and you are very welcome 😬.
I canNOT wait to make this for Thanksgiving. It’s so unique and is beautiful, too. Looks scrumptious!!
Thank you! I hope you love it! 🙂
Hello, if I bake this cake and split it into cupcake size so that everyone can have their own individual.. would the baking time stil be the same?
Hi Inna, it would bake faster but without testing it that way, it’s difficult to say exactly how long to bake cupcake sizes. I imagine it would be closer to 25 to 30 minutes.
oh my !!!! In Poland in 80s it was the most popular cake ever !, it was called “sernik z kruszonka” which means cheesecake with crumbles. I remember having it in the childhood in Poland. Now I got a recipe with perfect reviews so I can make it at home. <3
Maja, don’t you just love it when a recipe brings back sweet memories from the earlier days? 😁 I would love to hear how it turns out once you make it.
Ill def let u know when I make it 🙂 I need to make farmers cheese first , It’s rare for me to bake any sweets at the house but once a while I do and that’s on my to do list. I do not cook a lot of Eastern European recipes since my husband is an American; and he just does not get our flavors, and does not understand my love to potatoes and pickled things lol 🙂 Thanks for posting recipes from our region of the world.
Ha ha yes I can definitely relate to the love of pickled things. lol.
This recipe is seriously so good!!!!
I’m so happy you loved it. Thanks Olya! 🙂
Hi Natasha,
What kind of cocoa do you use for baking do you by any chance have a picture? Is it Hershey’s baking cocoa?
I’ve used Hersheys with great results but I also like one that I am currently out of and I can’t think of the name at the moment(!!!) It’s partly dutch processed cocoa (which is a deeper colored cocoa) and it’s sold right next to the Hershey’s container, but either of them work well in most recipes.
How do u remove parchmen paper? Is it difficult?
It comes off pretty easily. It helps to lift the cake with a large spatula as you peel it off. You can also serve it on the parchment paper right over the bottom of the springform mold. I took it off so it would photograph nicer but it isn’t necessary to take it off.
This cake is amazing! And all of your recipes are easy to follow just wanted to let you know that – good job on details and being so thorough all 🙂
Thank you Olga, this means a lot to me :). Merry Christmas to you and your family!
This looks soo good! and I love Farmers Cheese! I wont be making my own farmers cheese, ill just buy the lifeway brand at the store.
Do you think its okay to make this cake a night before and serve it the next day in the evening? And how would i go about storing it?
You can store it in the refrigerator and yes it will be fine overnight in the fridge 🙂
Natasha, great recipe and easy to follow. This is a fantastic blog. I made the kotleti with zucchini, mushrooms and kasha, and my husband and 16month old son both went nuts. I’ve been making your borscht for a while now. My mom cooks by feel and can never give me recipes, so thankfully, I have you to teach me how to cook great Russian dishes.
I made this cheesecake – chickened out on the tvorog and bought farmer’s cheese at the store… they tried to sell me cheddar as farmer’s cheese at first :). I can’t wait to taste it when it’s served tomorrow. I would like to decorate it however. Would you go with a fresh fruit topping? Some people do fresh fruit with a jam glaze, but I’m not sure it would taste good here….cake’s pretty decadent already. Help!
Oh, and, pleats post a recipe for zharkoye if you haven’t yet.
Thanks!
I hope you absolutely love it! 🙂 Is zharkoye like a Russian beef stew?
It can be beef or chicken. But it’s not quite stew…there’s very little liquid usually, I believe.
The cheesecake was phenomenal! I brought it to a friend’s for a Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) celebration and people went absolutely crazy for it. Thanks again.
I’m so glad the cheesecake was a success! Did you add the lemon to it?
Yes, added the lemon and it was spectacular. I made it twice more since and am clearly addicted. I love the fact that it’s got some quality, healthy, protein rich ingredients and not just fatty cream cheese. Your recipes are wonderful. Thank you.
Thanks so much Sophie! 🙂
the farmers cheese choclate cake looks very good and it is very good i love it thank you very much for the recipe
Hi Diana! You’re so welcome 🙂
nice! have a lot of farmers cheese and already have made everything, syrniki, nalisniki, perogi, etc. was looking for something different to make with it so thanks!! 🙂 and God bless you for doing this, have made a lot of your recipes, and oh yes, my husband LOVES the tefteli sauce, almost was tempted to take the credit 😉 almost
Lol. I love that last sentence. I’m so happy you are enjoying the recipes!! 🙂
I just took this cake out of the oven and absolutely cannot wait to try it!im bringing it for youth fellowship tonight though I am wondering how to take the cake out of the pie pan and place on a cake plate.hmmm….
Did you use a springform mold? Take a knife or thin edge spatula and run it along the sides and then carefully under the cake to separate it from the pan. Hope that helps 🙂
I made this delicousness yesterday. It was soo good! I cut them into square pieces and ate 5 of them myself throughout the day (my 5th one was at 11 pm) How bad is that?? Shhh that was my guilty confession only to you!! haha
Since I’m on college break right I have a lot of time on my hands so I’ve been digging up some of your older recipes and made 5 this past week. 🙂 I feel so accomplished, really. It feels great. Thanks Natasha and keep them recipes coming!! I’m looking forward to more salad recipes to make for college to keep me from getting pizza and them fries… you know how it goes… 😉
I know all about ‘da pizza and ‘dem fries. lol. I’m so glad you love the recipes and I’m working on some salad-type recipes. Lots of good things coming this year 🙂
Hey Natasha, is starch very important for this recipe? I have everything but starch and really want to make it right now! It looks delicious, my mom makes something similar
I haven’t tried it without the starch so I can’t really say… Sorry I don’t have a better answer for you.
This was one yummy cake. Love all your recipes darling! Thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Did you use the lemon zest?