Here's a cake we served on this year's Easter Brunch. It's a simple and very popular curd cheese cake that's usually made with canned/preserved apricots or peaches, but I've recently fine-tuned the recipe by adding a generous amount of ground cardamom to the crust and topping the cake with sliced almonds before baking.
Make the cake day before you plan to serve it - it's much easier to cut into slices when completely cooled, and the flavour improves as well.
Cardamom-scented apricot and curd cheese cake
(Kardemonihõnguline aprikoosi-kohupiimakook)Serves eight
Crust:
100 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
85 g caster sugar (100 ml)
1 large egg
180 g all-purpose flour (300 ml)
1 tsp ground cardamom
0.5 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
Filling:
400 g canned apricot halves (you can also use peaches)
500 g curd cheese or creamy farmer's cheese
200 g sour cream
2 large eggs
85 g caster sugar (100 ml)
2 tsp vanilla sugar or 1 tsp good-quality vanilla extract
Topping:
a handful of sliced almonds (optional)
Making the crust: cream the butter and sugar until combined and pale. Add the egg, stir until combined. Fold in the dry ingredients. Press the pastry onto the base and sides of a buttered and lined 26 cm loose-bottomed springform tin. Place into the fridge to rest for 30 minutes.
Making the filling: combine the curd cheese and sour cream. Beat in the eggs, then add the sugar and vanilla. Whisk until well combined. Spoon the filling onto the cake tin.
Drain the apricots and gently press onto the filling, cut-side down. Sprinkle almond slices on top.
Bake in the middle of a pre-heated 175 C/350 F oven for about 50 to 60 minutes, until the cake is light golden on top and the filling is just a wee bit wobbly - it'll set overnight.
10 comments:
It's so refreshing to find articles like the ones you post on your site. Very informative reading.
Kas curd cheese on eesti kohupiim (ristkülikuline pakk), mida ma peaksin siin nt vene poest ostma ja kas sobib ka queso fresco?
Liis- 'queso fresco' on toorjuust, ma kasutan Saksamaal sellist asja nagu 'quark', mis on kohupiimapasta. Siinses vene peos on ka teralist kohupiima, aga ma kahjuks ei mäleta, kuidas nad seda kutsuvad.
Jah, toorjuust, aga mõnikord sobib kohupiima asendama minu arust. Ma pole seda quarki asja vist siin näinud. Aga eks ongi põhjust vene poodi minna jälle. See kook lihtsalt isutab väga siin pildil...:)
Looks and sounds yummy Pille...and what a fabulous Easter spread (in your last post)! Hope your Easter holidays were wonderful!
Joey - my Easter was wonderful indeed!!
thank you for taking the time to share your rich culture through food. As a Slovak American, every guest around the holidays gets a crash course on Slovak tradition.
I have a question about the cardamon apricot cake. Is the crust supposed to be very wet and difficult to work with? You mention folding the dry ingredients into the wet. Did you mean mix gently? Also you said to use room temperature butter. My crust was too wet to work with so I placed it into the freezer a few times. Perhaps my butter here in the desert is a bit warmer at room temperature?
PS the grated apple curd cake is dangerously addictive
cheers
Mark, so glad to read you've discovered the Nami-Nami blog :)
Re: this cake. The dough is soft indeed - it's best to use slightly floured (or wet) hands to press the dough into the cake tin. You can then put it in the freezer for a while to rest, but it's not necessary.
You're right - fold in the dry ingredients (flour, cardamom etc) means stirring them gently into the egg and butter mixture. It's a British expression, I suspect..
I love this cake. Have made it numerous times!
Great, Leila! I made it few weeks ago, so also quite recently.
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