Best Apricot Cake made with COTTAGE CHEESE!

There, I said it.  Cottage cheese.

I am a big fan.  Childhood memories of not feeling well, my grandmother made me baked potato with a scoop of cottage cheese.   Try it, you might love it.

I have been using cottage cheese in my frittatas lately with such great results.   

And let's not forget that added protein that is a bonus!  Especially if you are not doing much meat these days.

So the story goes, I was looking for some cakes to bake with my fresh market, in season apricots.    

One of my followers, Karin, made an amaretto cottage cheese cake with apricots, and I was intrigued.    Then I saw Alison Roman had a cottage cheese cake with apricots in her new cookbook.......so what was I missing out on?

A lot.

I decided to make my favorite ricotta cake, but swapping cottage cheese for the ricotta.   Sacrilege.  

I am not kidding you, but this is my new love.  IT WAS SO DELICIOUS!

The apricots were also yummy, sprinkled with pistachios and turbinado sugar.

Please try it......it's pretty simple and so delicious.  I will be using cottage cheese in my cakes from now on.

Best Apricot Cake made with COTTAGE CHEESE:

stick of butter (1/2 cup), melted

1 cup sugar

zest of a lemon

1 cup of cottage cheese (I used Breakstones 2%, small curd)

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp almond extract

1 cup flour

1/2 cup almond flour

2 tsp baking powder

8-9 apricots, halved (pits discarded)

1/2 cup chopped pistachios for the top

turbinado sugar for the top

Cream the butter, sugar, zest, vanilla & almond extracts with the eggs in a large mixing bowl.

Add in the cottage cheese and combine until creamy.

Next, add in the dry ingredients and mix to form a batter.

Smooth the batter into a greased and paper lined 9" springform baking pan (if you don't have a springform pan by now, go to Home Goods and buy one).

Lay the apricot halves (open side up) in a nice pattern on top of the batter.  Sprinkle with chopped pistachios and turbinado sugar.

Bake in a 350F oven for about an hour.  Mine needed a full hour, but check after the 55 minute mark to see how your cake is doing.  You might need a few extra minutes on this one.

Let cool in the cake tin about 15 minutes before unmolding.

EXCELLENT with whipped cream, or with yogurt....or just on its own.

Cottage cheese forever.

xo