The one merchandise you possibly can at all times rely on in my home rising up was an enormous tub of cottage cheese. Often of the generic supermarket-brand selection, it was a fixture in our kitchen, entrance and middle within the fridge. My vegetarian mom has had a lifelong love affair with the stuff, utilizing it as a fast and filling supply of protein on a near-daily foundation. Me? I alternated between loving its milky richness and briny curds, and discovering it too chalky and funky to take care of.
After shifting to New York, I began noticing cottage cheese on the menu at diners and delis. I’d giggle on the considered ordering it in a restaurant, a breakfast appetizer nestled up subsequent to a wedge of melon or crushed pineapple. It jogged my memory of my mother and our breakfasts again residence, however by no means felt like one thing I’d hunt down in a public setting. So think about my shock once I discovered that cottage cheese is having a second: It’s being blended with fruit into no-churn ice lotions, folded into whipped egg whites and flour to make savory, crusty loaves, and touted on TikTok as a hot-girl meals.
These latest reappraisals had me contemplating cottage cheese once more, this time as an ingredient greater than as a stand-alone dish. Was I getting ready to reentering a cottage cheese appreciation section? Many of those newer recipes promote cottage cheese as a lighter various to wealthy dairy merchandise like bitter cream or ricotta. However I needed to create one thing that celebrates cottage cheese for its pure deliciousness, funky curds and all.
A number of baking references got here to thoughts, just like the farmer’s cheese pie at Brooklyn’s 4 & Twenty Blackbirds, a quiche spinoff made with the finer-curd farmer’s cheese, honey, and a sprinkle of thyme. The celebrated ricotta biscuits in Nicole Rucker’s fruit-centric baking e-book, Dappled, additionally use contemporary cheese to counterpoint a batter or dough, which is an excellent back-pocket trick for bakers. The cheese melds with the crumb in a virtually undetectable method, lending moisture, richness, and depth abruptly. And the lactose in dairy browns rapidly within the oven and transforms right into a deeply appetizing copper colour.
I selected to go along with a easy baked loaf cake made with the addition of a full cup of cottage cheese and half a minced lemon. Introducing the complete pressure of citrus balances out the cake’s milky base with complementary bitterness and acidity. Because the cake bakes, the lemon items flip pleasantly chewy, offering a pleasant textural distinction to the tender crumb.
I discover this cake to be even higher after it sits for a day, when the moisture has settled in and the lemon has had a while to launch its fragrance. I prime it with a bitter lemon glaze for an additional hit of acidity, however a heavy sprinkle of sugar adopted by a drizzle of lemon juice earlier than baking would make a easy and attractive various. My mother isn’t large on baking, however I feel she could be tempted by the profitable mixture of cottage cheese and cake. It helps that the primary ingredient is at all times available!
Cottage Cheese and Minced Lemon Cake Recipe
Serves 8
Components:
1 lemon, divided (hunt down an natural lemon as half the complete fruit goes into the cake, pores and skin and all)
240 grams (2 cups) all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1¼ teaspoons kosher salt
200 grams (1 cup) sugar
110 grams (½ cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
240 grams (1 cup) cottage cheese, 4 % fats small curd
1 massive egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
150 grams (1⅓ cups) confectioners’ sugar
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Directions:
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 levels. Calmly coat a typical 8½-inch-by-4½-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray and line it with a slip of parchment that matches simply inside the underside of the pan and up the 2 lengthy sides. The parchment ought to rise above the highest edge by about an inch so the cake may be simply lifted out as soon as baked.
Step 2: Reduce the lemon in half and put aside one half for the glaze. Slice the remaining half into wheels, de-seeding as you go. Finely mince the slices till they resemble the dimensions of minced garlic and put aside.
Step 3: Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt collectively in a medium bowl and put aside.
Step 4: Utilizing a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream collectively the sugar and butter for two minutes on medium pace.
Step 5: In a medium bowl, stir collectively the minced lemon, cottage cheese, egg, and vanilla extract. Add the combination to the stand mixer and beat on medium pace for about 10 seconds, or till well-combined. The combination would possibly tackle a curdled look due to the cheese. No sweat.
Step 6: Add the mixed dry elements and beat for 10 to fifteen seconds or till simply blended. The batter ought to be thick and fluffy. Scoop it into the ready pan and use a spoon to clean out the highest.
Step 7: Bake for 45 to 50 minutes till the cake is risen and golden on prime with none seen wetness; there ought to be a pleasant brown crust that springs again to the contact. Let cool for quarter-hour, then use the high-sided parchment to carry the cake out of the pan and onto a cooling rack or platter. Wait one other half-hour, or till the cake is generally cool, to glaze it.
Step 8: To make the glaze, zest the remaining half lemon right into a small bowl and squeeze out as a lot juice as attainable; it’s best to have about 2 tablespoons. Add the confectioners’ sugar and salt and stir with a fork till no lumps stay.
Step 9: Spoon the glaze over the cooled cake, then use the again of the spoon to unfold it simply to the loaf’s edge so it drips down the edges. High with extra lemon zest if desired and permit the glaze to set for an additional quarter-hour earlier than slicing. The cake stays scrumptious lined and held at room temperature for as much as 3 days.
Zoë Kanan is a pastry chef in New York Metropolis.
Dina Ávila is a photographer in Portland, Oregon.
Recipe examined by Ivy Manning
