The Best Russian Cheesecake - Harry & Lexy's Workshop

A few years ago I discovered the recipe for this scrumptious and incredibly quick Russian cake by accident on the back of a baking cocoa powder pack. I decided to try it without having any expectations and we were all very pleasantly surprised. This Russian cheesecake is perfect to have with either coffee, tea or hot chocolate for a morning or afternoon snack. All our guests are always wanting at least one extra piece, although this dessert is quite heavy.

Depending on how you cut the cake you can get between 12 and 18 pieces. If you’re having difficulties finding quark, you can replace it with 250 g cream cheese, cottage cheese, sour cream or double cream. I’m pretty sure you can get away even with mascarpone cheese and for this recipe there will be hardly any difference so go ahead and experiment!

If your family can’t handle eating the whole cheesecake, but you definitely want to try this yumminess, you can always freeze it and enjoy it in smaller portions later on.

Huge thanks to Ms. Koenig from Bremen who shared this amazing recipe!

Ingredients for the cheesecake base:

400 g flour
200 g sugar
180 ml sunflower oil
1 egg
40 g baking cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder

Ingredients for the Russian cheesecake filling:

500 g quark (replaceable with sour cream, cream cheese or double cream)
250 g sugar
250 g butter
3 eggs
1 vanilla pudding pack
1 vanilla sugar pack

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder in a deep bowl.
Beat the egg and add it together with the oil and sugar to the flour.
Stir with a spoon, then knead by hand. You will get quite a crumbly dough.
Line the cake pan (diameter about +/- 26 cm) with baking paper.
Pour ¾ of the dough into the cake pan and spread it smoothly on the bottom and on the walls, press the dough with hand.
To prepare the cheesecake filling place the softened butter in a bowl. Add the sugar and mix well. Gradually add one by one the other ingredients and mix until a smooth filling is obtained.
Pour the cream filling into the cake pan, it will spread evenly by itself. The top doesn’t need to be perfectly smooth.
Break the remaining dough into large crumbs. Sprinkle them over the (entire) cake.
Bake for about 1 hour. After removing it from the oven, leave the cheesecake to cool in the cake tin. During cooling the cake will sink back a little in the middle – this is completely normal.