Cottage cheese cake with rhubarb

This is not a cheesecake. It is a cake, made with cottage cheese. It is on the custardy side of things, so if you ever wished for something between a cheesecake and a cake, this might be the cake for you. Made in one bowl with any chopped-up fruit you choose, it's as simple as cake recipes get. Out of the oven, it's slightly souffléd and has a dark brown, delightfully shiny top, while staying impossibly delicate and custardy on the interior. My favourite thing about it? The little curds of cottage cheese that caramelise on the bottom.

Cottage-cheese cake with rhubarb Credit: Jiwon Kim

• serves

  8

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  55 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

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Ingredients

• 115 g unsalted butter, diced
• 180 g (1¼ cups) plain flour
• 2 tsp (8 g) baking powder
• 1 tsp (4 g) salt
• 3 large eggs
• 450 g (2 cups) cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
• 165 g (¾ cup) white sugar, plus 2 tbsp for sprinkling
• 180 g (½ cup) honey, or 105 g (½ cup) light brown sugar
• 680–900 g rhubarb, apricots, plums, bananas or peaches, cut into 1 cm slices

Cooling time: 60 minutes

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Line a 23 cm cake tin or springform tin with baking paper.
2. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat or brown it. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, cheese, ¾ cup sugar and honey until combined.
4. Begin to whisk the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and, just before it looks totally combined, add the melted butter and whisk until it is totally combined. The batter will look a little lumpy.
5. Using a spatula or wooden spoon, fold in about three-quarters of the rhubarb (of the fruit of your choice). Pour the batter into the cake tin. Scatter the remaining rhubarb and the extra sugar over the top.
6. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until the cake is deeply browned on top, shiny and no longer jiggles in the centre. The cake should appear puffed around the edges and spring back lightly when pressed. Allow the cake to cool completely before slicing to serve.

Photography by Jiwon Kim.

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This recipe comes from Alison's cookbook, Sweet Enough: A Baking Book by Alison Roman, published by Hardie Grant Books. 

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

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