Cottage cheese cake with grapes is a great choice for tea time. This dessert harmoniously combines airy sponge cake and delicate cream made from whipped cottage cheese with cream and a small amount of gelatin. The bright accent in our recipe is grapes of two varieties (we recommend choosing seedless), but other fruits that are not too firm and not too watery — peaches, apricots, figs — will also work. Any berries can also be used — strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, or their combination, which will make the cake especially vibrant.
Ingredients
light grapes — 300 g
dark grapes — 300 g
cottage cheese — 500 g
33% cream — 250 ml
sugar — 2/3 cup
egg yolks — 2 pcs.
juice of 1 lemon
gelatin — 40 g
almond flakes — 100 g
For the dough:
flour — 3/4 cup
chicken eggs — 4 pcs.
sugar — 1/2 cup
potato starch — 2 tbsp.
baking powder — 1 tsp.
butter for greasing the pan
sugar for the pan
Step-by-step recipe
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 200 °C. Grease the sides of a 22 cm diameter pan with butter and dust with flour. Place a circle of parchment paper at the bottom of the pan.
Step 2
Separate the yolks from the whites. Beat the yolks with half of the sugar and 2 tbsp. of warm water until fluffy and light. Whip the egg whites into a foam, add the remaining sugar, and continue whipping until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the whipped egg whites into the yolks. Sift the flour with the potato starch and baking powder and carefully fold it into the egg mixture using a spatula.
Step 3
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25–30 minutes. Transfer the pan with the cake to a rack and let it cool for 2 hours.
Step 4
For the cream, beat the cottage cheese until smooth with the yolks, lemon juice, and sugar. Soak the gelatin in 150 ml of cold water and let it sit for 10 minutes to swell. Heat the gelatin over low heat until fully dissolved, then let it cool slightly. Whip the cream until soft peaks form. Strain the gelatin into the cottage cheese mixture, mix thoroughly, then add the cream and mix again.
Step 5
Set aside 1/3 of the cottage cheese cream. Add some grapes to the remaining part. Remove the cake from the pan and cut it in half. Spread the cream with grapes on the bottom half and smooth it out.
Step 6
Cover with the second half of the sponge cake.
Step 7
Spread the top of the cake with cream, arrange the grapes (some berries can be cut in half). Sprinkle the sides of the cake with toasted almond flakes.
