Romanian Easter Bread Cheesecake - Pasca

This Easter bread cheesecake is a traditional Romanian cake that combines the fragrant sweet bread & soft cheesecake filling that satisfies your palate & feeds a crowd.

Celebrate with some Cake!

Celebrate Easter with this traditional Romanian cake that combines the fragrant sweet bread and soft cheesecake filling, satisfies your palate, and feeds a crowd. It requires a bit of effort to make but with my step by step instructions below, it'll be a piece of cake. Literally. 🙂

I first saw this Easter bread cheesecake over at Delicious Romania and fell in love with it. Hello, cheesecake! 😍 I've never seen this sweet bread and cheesecake combination before but I had to add it to my cheesecake collection. It is crazy scrumptious!

Alina's Recipe

Alina is an expert in Romanian cuisine and she adds raisins to her pasca [Easter]. However, my family dislikes them and I left them out. Otherwise, I would be eating this whole thing by myself. Not that I couldn't. I could. But I shouldn't.

Inspired by Alina's recipe, I made a few other small changes. I couldn't decide between ricotta and cream cheese for the filling, so I used both. It yields wonderful texture which complements the rustic look of the cake. I really like that it doesn't look perfectly smooth.

The bread likes the high heat and the cheesecakes low, so it's hard to get a perfect balance. Cracking and sinking of the cheesecake filling are bound to happen. It doesn't taste less delicious, though.

Baking with Joy

While baking this Romanian sweet Easter bread, I also realized something: I no longer hate to bake. Granted, I've been baking nevertheless but I always disliked the measuring. When I cook, I eyeball it.

Besides, the metric measuring system is easy. Everything is measured on a scale and you can't fail. It took me this long to get comfortable with the imperial system. A cup of flour - leveled, packed, heaped...which is it? A few grams too much or too little can spoil the cake.

But not this delectable Easter bread cheesecake. In Romania, Christian symbolism is associated with features of pasca type bread. The inside of pasca can be a swirl of yellow and white that is said to represent the resurrection of Jesus while the white represents the Holy Spirit.

This recipe also concludes day three of the #EasterRecipe event and you can find more recipes linked at the bottom of this post. If you missed days one and two, you can find them in my puff pastry eggs with ham and cheese and white borscht breakfast soup posts, respectively.

How to Make Easter Bread Cheesecake - Pasca:

Sweetbread dough

1. In a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment, add the yeast, sugar, and warm milk. Let it proof and raise.
2. Meanwhile, measure out the remaining ingredients for the bread. Mix them into the yeast mixture starting with 4 cups of flour and then adding more if necessary. The dough should be soft and only slightly sticky. The amount depends on the flour and air humidity.
3. Let knead until smooth, about 10 minutes. Alternatively, knead the dough by hand. Lightly oil the dough, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in volume, about 1-2 hours.
4. Divide the dough into halves. Press one half onto the bottom of a 10-inch greased springform pan.
5. Divide the other half into three even pieces. Form each piece into a thin rope, about 32-inch long. Braid the pieces together and loop them around the edge of the pan. Cut off excess dough and pinch the ends together to seal. Use the extra dough to form a cross and place it on top of the filling (optional).
6. Let rise for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cheesecake filling

• With an electric mixer, beat the ricotta, cream cheese, and sugar until smooth. Mix in the eggs and vanilla.

Assemble

1. Press down the center of the dough flat. Brush the braid with egg wash. Pour the cheesecake filling in the middle of the braided circle.
2. Bake for 15 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for 40-45 more minutes or until the crust is a deep brown. Turn off the heat and let cool in the oven without opening the door for 1 hour.
3. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Just before serving, brush the braid with honey glaze.

Romanian Easter Bread Cheesecake - Pasca

Fragrant sweet bread and soft cheesecake filling make this scrumptious Romanian Easter cake - pasca.

5 from 1 vote

Print Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Romanian

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Resting Time: 3 hours 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings: 10 servings

Calories: 615kcal

Author: Jas

Ingredients

Sweet bread dough

• ▢ 1 package instant dry yeast 2 teaspoons
• ▢ ⅓ cup sugar
• ▢ 1 cup warm milk
• ▢ 2 eggs lightly beaten
• ▢ 3 tablespoons butter softened
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ Zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange
• ▢ 4 - 4 ½ cups all-purpose flour

Cheesecake filling

• ▢ 1 cup ricotta
• ▢ 4 ounces cream cheese ½ package
• ▢ ⅓ cup sugar
• ▢ 2 eggs
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Egg wash

• ▢ 1 egg
• ▢ 1 teaspoon milk

Glaze

• ▢ 2 tablespoons honey
• ▢ 1 teaspoon milk

Instructions

Sweet bread dough

• In a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with dough hook attachment, add the yeast, sugar, and warm milk. Let it proof and raise.
• Meanwhile, measure out the remaining ingredients for the bread. Mix them into the yeast mixture starting with 4 cups of flour and then adding more if necessary. The dough should be soft and only slightly sticky. The amount depends on the flour and air humidity.
• Let knead until smooth, about 10 minutes. Alternatively, knead the dough by hand. Lightly oil the dough, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in volume, about 1-2 hours.
• Divide the dough into halves. Press one half onto the bottom of a 10-inch greased springform pan.
• Divide the other half into three even pieces. Form each piece into a thin rope, about 32-inch long. Braid the pieces together and loop around the edge of the pan. Cut off excess dough and pinch the ends together to seal. Use the extra dough to form a cross and place it on top of the filling (optional).
• Let rise for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cheesecake filling

• With an electric mixer, beat the ricotta, cream cheese, and sugar until smooth. Mix in the eggs and vanilla.

Assemble

• Press down the center of the dough flat. Brush the braid with egg wash. Pour the cheesecake filling in the middle of the braided circle.
• Bake for 15 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for 40-45 more minutes or until the crust is a deep brown. Turn off the heat and let cool in the oven without opening the door for 1 hour.
• Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Just before serving, brush the braid with honey glaze.

Expert Tips

~ Free Tip ~ 

• Add ½ cup raisins to the cheesecake filling (soak them in rum to soften). 
• For a quick dough rise, place the bowl into a larger bowl filled halfway with hot water. 
• Use just one kind of cheese for the filling - 12 oz. (1 ½ cup) of ricotta, cream cheese or farmers cheese.

Nutrition

Calories: 615kcal | Carbohydrates: 101g | Protein: 18g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 109mg | Sodium: 258mg | Potassium: 225mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 570IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 119mg | Iron: 5mg

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