Quarkkuchen a German Cheesecake
Do you know that feeling when you really badly want some fluffy moist cake but all bakeries are closed? Well fear no more! This German Cheesecake recipe is super easy and done in about 1 hour.
German Cheescake traditions
In Germany we love cake in the afternoon with a cup of coffee or tea. On Sundays most bakeries are closed or close around noon so if you feel like cake you’re out of luck most of the time. Exceptions are if you drive into the city. There you might be able top find some open cafés. But honestly once I’m in my yoga pants (which is my Sunday stable) nobody can get me out of those. So I usual look what’s in my pantry and go from there.
A really traditional German cakes is a sort of cheesecake. But probably not the one you’re familiar with if you’re from the states. It’s a really fluffy and light cake. It’s made with Quark which is a fresh dairy product popular in European countries. If you wonder how to say it: It is pronounced “kvarg”.
Quark substitute
If you can’t get your hands on Quark try Plain Greek Yogurt or Ricotta Cheese. I haven’t tried it myself but heard it works just fine as a substitute.
Ingredients:
Dough:
- 1 eggs
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 250g (2 cups) flour
- 120g (1/2 cups) butter
- 80g (3/8 cups) sugar
- A dash salt
Filling:
- 1kg (2.2 pounds) Quark
- A splash milk (3-4 tbsp)
- 5 eggs
- 250g (1 1/8 cups) sugar
- 90g (3/4 cups) flour
- 120g (1/2 cups) butter
For the shortcrust mix all the dough ingredients until you have a smooth consistency. Evenly spread it into a spring form and add create a border.
For the filling separate the eggs. Whisk the egg whites till they’re stiff and set aside. Now mix Quark, Sugar, Flour, Butter, egg yolks and the splash of milk. Once it’s all creamy and smooth fold in the egg whites. This gives it the super fluffy consistency.
Now fill the quark cream into the spring from. For an extra twist I added drops of food coloring on top of the batter. I used a toothpick to swirl the drops so you get this nice pattern. It’s the first time I tried it but if you want try it you I recommend to make bigger drops than me. Than you might be able to make them look like hearts. Which would look great for Valentines Day, Mother’s Day or just any other special occasion.
Another variation that you could do is adding some lemon juice and lemon zest to the batter. It gives it a nice refreshing touch and it’s a great way to get out of the usual cheesecake routine. You could also replace part of the regular sugar in the filling with homemade vanilla sugar which will also boost the flavor.
Bake it in the oven at 180 degree Celsius for about an hour.
Guten Appetit!
With this Blogpost I participate in the Blogparade „Kulinarisch um die Welt“ from Lavendelblog. Where she asked Bloggers to write down their favorite dessert dishes from all over the world.
I would love to make this recipe, but there is one problem:
Can someone please translate this for me? I don’t do metric, and I have no idea what a Quark is. Also, how much is a “splash of milk”?
HELP!
Hi Sharon,
I’m glad you find it appetizing. I just added the US measurements.
When it comes to Quark I can only tell you what others commented underneath my Post on Facebook.
Some tried the recipe (or similar ones) but substitute Quark for Plain Greek Yogurt or Ricotta Cheese. I haven’t tried it though but they say it works great.
I hope this helps you. Let me know if when you tried this recipe. Would love to hear how you’d like it.
You can find Quark in the dairy case at The Fresh Market, Whole Foods, and probably just about any gourmet grocery store.
Also, Google Does measurement conversions. Just type in “1 kg = ” and Google will supply the answers you require.
I use this for Celcius to Fahrenheit or if I can’t remember how many quarts in a gallon, etc.
Thank you for the helpful tips Karen! 🙂
Hmmm, das schaut lecker aus! Ich bin ein großer Cheesecake-Fan. Toll, dass du bei der vierten Runde unserer Blogparade wieder dabei bist!
Hi Anika, freut mich, dass dir der Kuchen gefällt. Käsekuchen ist so einfach und mein “Notfall” Rezept wenn ich irgendwo eingeladen bin, da er auf jeden Fall gelingt 🙂
Wow, this one looks awesome! I’m a big fan of cheesecakes, would love to try your recipe! 🙂
Best wishes
Alex
Hi Alex,
thank you for your nice comment. Please let me know once you’ve tried it 🙂
Cheers
Annika
I will, for sure! 🙂 Wenn ihr cremige Cheesecakes genauso gern habt, schaut gerne mal in mein Rezepteverzeichnis, da gibt es zwei New York Cheesecakes, die ich beide sehr empfehle 🙂
https://reisespeisen.wordpress.com/speisen/
Ganz liebe Grüße
Alex
Käsekuchen geht immer und deiner sieht sehr lecker aus 🙂
Vielen Dank! Ja Käsekuchen könnten wir auch jede Woche backen 🙂
On the filling it has butter , but it doesn’t mention to add it ??? Typ o?
It calls for butter in the filling , but it doesn’t say anywhere to add it ?????? I didn’t add it because it didn’t sound right any ways . I will see shortly.
Hi Carmen,
thank you for noticing! You should add butter to the filling but I think it will also work fine without it. It just adds another layer of flavor. I just added it to the recipe.
How did it turn out? We’d love to hear about it! 🙂
I remember my German grandmother making a recipe like this. My aunt says that grandma used bread dough as her crust. Do you know anything about using bread dough? I have been looking for this recipe for 30 years. I hope this is like the one she made.
Hi Kathy,
I hope you enjoy the recipe. I’ve never heard of a recipe that calls for bread dough unfortunately.
I even googled it in german but didn’t find any recipe that uses bread dough. There’s three different doughs that I could imagine to use for german cheesecake: Mürbeteig or Hefeteig or Biskuitteig (less obvious choice). I hope this helps!
I made this yesterday and hmm I’m not sure if it turned out great. I made for a class thing but it turned out so bad that I couldn’t even take it ! 1/10 ! I had really high expectations because the pictures looked so good and it did turn out the same as the picture but didn’t taste good at all !
Hi Lily, I’m sorry to hear that. I wonder what happened. Maybe it was the Quark you used?
I use this recipe for years and had no trouble so far. I wish I could help you.