Ukrainian Cheesecake

5 from 12 votes

This easy and tasty cheesecake is an authentic Ukrainian recipe I learned while staying with family. Super simple and very tasty, this Ukrainian cheesecake goes great with afternoon coffee or tea.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Eastern European, Ukrainian

Keyword Cherry Cheesecake, Ukrainian Cheesecake

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings cake

Calories 6677kcal

Cost $10

Equipment

Baking Tray (9x13x4)
Mixing Bowl

Ingredients

800 grams Cottage Cheese known here as home cheese or farmer's cheese. Similar to quark but a bit more dense.
7 Eggs
300 grams Sugar
600 grams Flour
250 grams Butter chilled
1 tsp Vanilla Powder can use vanilla extract as a substitute.
500 grams Cherries pitted, optional

Instructions

In a bowl mash together the cheese, eggs, vanilla powder, and 100 grams of sugar until you get a homogeneous mixture.
In another bowl mix together with your hands the flour, chilled chopped butter, and the rest of the sugar. Use your fingers to break the butter up into the flour and then knead the whole mixture a bit until you get a crumbly mixture. The dough will hold together, but will easily fall apart and this is okay.
Line a baking pan with plastic baking liner and press the dough into a layer on the bottom with your fingers. Use your fingers to raise the dough a bit on the edges to form a higher crust a bit (it doesn't need to go very high, just a bit.
Spread half the cherries on the bottom of the pan and then cover with all the cheese mixture. Smooth it out with the back of a spoon or a spatula.
Cover the top with the rest of the cherries.
Place in an oven to bake in a convection oven at 200 Celsius for 35-45 minutes, or until you see the edges blacken and caramelize a bit. When you pull it out, touch the surface with the back of a spoon and if nothing pulls off then it is done.
Remove from the oven and let rest for at minimum a half hour. I like to let it rest for hours and then chill in the fridge, but you can eat it slightly warm. It is necessary to rest for a bit though so the cheese sets and it doesn't fall apart when you remove it (the plastic liner makes it really easy to remove though).

Nutrition