Preheat oven to 400°F/204°C. Line a 9” cake pan (springform or regular cake pan) with parchment paper (either so it hangs over the edges, or just covers the bottom, either work).

Melt butter or brown it. I hate to give you this choice, but I’m telling you both work. I originally made this cake without browning the butter and was all set, very happy with the recipe. Then, another time, I was melting the butter, walked away to do something that I hope was important but probably wasn’t, and browned the butter on accident. It smelled so nice that I figured it would be wonderful, and turns out, I was correct. But seriously, no pressure.

Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.

Whisk eggs, cottage cheese, sugar, and honey together until smooth. If using cottage cheese, you’ll notice it’ll look a little separated with little cheese curds floating around-- that’s cool, don’t worry.

Begin to whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and just before it looks totally combined, add in the melted or browned butter and whisk until it totally combined. The batter will look a little lumpy (that’s because of the cottage cheese), and perhaps a little loose. It is, after all, a cheesecake.

Fold in most of the fruit (approximately ¾ of it). You can’t really whisk it in so yes I am asking you to get out another tool (a spatula or wooden spoon) and I’m sorry.

Pour the batter into your prepared cake pan and scatter the remaining fruit on top. Give a good sprinkle of sugar over everything, too.

Bake until the cake is deeply (VERY deeply) browned on top, shiny, and no longer jiggly in the center, 40–45 minutes. The cake should appear puffed around the edges, and spring back lightly when pressed (decidedly more “cake” than “cheesecake” in texture).

Let cool completely before slicing. A big ask, I know!