Russian Pluck Cake (Russischer Zupfkuchen) LC, SF

My mother used to make this one for special occasions! It’s called a Russian cake, but really it’s a traditional German recipe. It’s a rich, smooth and soft cheesecake that has a delightfully crumbly, chocolate crust that is also dotted over the top of the cake.

Here’s the low-carb version

It’s not the lowest carb thing, but certainly worth the indulgence on special occasions!

You could make only half the crust recipe and not do the dotting to save some carbs. It’s a decadently creamy cheese cake, one way or another!

 

 

Ingredients

FOR THE CRUST:

• 1-1/4 cups Basic Bake Mix
• 1 cup of Almond Flour
• 1/2 cup of Ideal bulk Sweetener
• 1/2 cup of Erythritol, granulated
• 2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• ⅓ cups Cocoa Powder
• 2 whole Eggs
• 1-⅔ cup Butter

FOR THE FILLING:

• 1/2 cup erythritol, granulated
• 1/2 tsp stevia extract
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 3 whole Eggs
• 1 cup Mascarpone Cheese (or cream cheese)
• 3 cups Greek Yogurt (in A Pinch Sour Cream Will Do Too)
• 1 pinch Salt
• 1-½ cup Heavy Whipping Cream
• ½ cup Butter, Softened

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Add first 7 ingredients and mix together to make the dough for the crust. Knead well.

Pinch off about a quarter of the dough and set aside.

Butter a Spring form pan and line it with the chocolate dough, pulling the crust all the way up the sides.

Mix all the filling ingredients until smooth. Pour the filling into the Spring form pan.

Pull little pieces off the reserved chocolate dough and randomly dot all over the cheese filling.

Cover the pan with aluminum foil.

Bake for about 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes. The center should be dry to the touch but still somewhat soft. Don’t over bake!

Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate for several hours.