Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Sernik
A dense, rich baked cheesecake made from Polish twaróg curd cheese, a cornerstone of every celebration table.
Polish · medium · serves 10
prep 25 min · cook 70 min
~779 cal · 29g protein · 51g carbs · 52g fat · 1g fiber · 33g sugars · 32g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Sernik is the classic Polish cheesecake, and it appears at every important occasion, from Easter and Christmas to name days and Sunday dinners. It is denser, less sweet, and less wobbly than its American cousin, thanks to its defining ingredient.
That ingredient is twaróg, the fresh farmer's curd cheese that is a staple of the Polish fridge. Ground smooth and beaten with eggs, sugar, and butter, it bakes into a firm, rich cake, often on a shortcrust base and sometimes studded with raisins or a lattice top.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 10
2 lb twaróg (farmer's curd cheese)
Hard to find? full-fat dry-curd cottage cheese blitzed smooth, or thick quark - twaróg bakes drier and tangier; drain whatever you use overnight or the cheesecake weeps
5 eggs, separated
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour, for the shortcrust base (kruche ciasto)
1/2 cup cold butter, for the base
1/4 cup sugar, for the base
1 egg yolk, to bind the base
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 lemon lemon zest
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
Instructions
1
Rub the shortcrust ingredients together into a dough, press it into a lined tin, and blind-bake it 15 minutes until pale gold.
2
Grind the twaróg very smooth, then beat with the butter, sugar, egg yolks, vanilla, and lemon zest.
3
Whip the egg whites to peaks and fold them in for lift.
✎ Chef’s note
Grinding or sieving the curd twice is the secret to a smooth sernik. Any lumps of curd left in show up in the baked cake.
4
Pour the cheese mixture over the baked base and level it.
✎ Chef’s note
A shortcrust or yeast-dough base is the Polish build; a crushed-biscuit base is a British cheesecake habit. Some regions scatter kruszonka crumble over the top instead of leaving it plain.
5
Bake at 325F (160C) until set with a slight wobble, about 1 hour, then cool slowly in the oven to stop it cracking.
Polish celebration baking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Lesser Poland. Lesser Poland, around Krakow, cooks hearty highland food, sour rye zurek, pierogi, and smoked oscypek sheep cheese, which carries EU protected-origin status and may only be made in the Podhale highlands inside the region. Pierogi themselves are eaten across the whole country, but Krakow keeps the loudest claim on them and throws an annual festival to prove it. The Tatra mountains and the old royal capital shape its rustic table.
🗺️
Poland. Polish cooking is hearty comfort built for long winters, pierogi dumplings, hunter's bigos stew, sour rye soup, and cabbage in many forms. Pork, potatoes, mushrooms, and dill flavor a warming, generous home-cooking tradition.
🌍
Europe. Europe has written a great deal of its food into law. A regulation of 1992 created the protected designation of origin and the protected geographical indication, tying a name to a place and a method, and an EU evaluation published in 2021 counted more than three thousand registered names across those schemes, from cheeses and hams down to particular shapes of bread.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Poland
Pierogi Ruskie (Potato & Cheese Dumplings)Tender dumplings stuffed with potato and farmer's cheese, finished in butter with golden onions.
Żurek (Sour Rye Soup)Poland’s tangy, smoky sour rye soup, built on a fermented rye starter, simmered with white sausage and marjoram, and crowned with a halved egg.
Bigos (Hunter’s Stew)Sauerkraut and fresh cabbage slow-cooked with assorted meats, mushrooms, and prunes, Poland’s national stew, better each day.
Browse all Poland recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven, Mould or tin.
Storing it: Keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and reheats covered in the oven. Most bakes can be assembled a day ahead and baked when needed.
Make it a Poland meal
Pierogi Ruskie (Potato & Cheese Dumplings)Dinner
KompotDrink
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Frequently asked questions
What is Sernik?
A dense, rich baked cheesecake made from Polish twaróg curd cheese, a cornerstone of every celebration table.
Where does Sernik come from?
Sernik is a Polish dish from Lesser Poland, Poland.
Can Sernik be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Sernik recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Sernik safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Sernik take to make?
About 95 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 70 minutes cooking), serving 10.
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