This is a classic in Germany and North America has something similar. But our cheese cake is made with quark. What’s that you ask? Well, it’s a sour milk product and is used often in Germany. You can use it for baking but you can also mix it up with some herbs and put it on your dark bread, or eat it with baked potatoes.
If you liked to know more then check out the Wikipedia page about Quark or look at this chart and see how it is related to other milk products. That will give you some insight.
I had nieces and a nephew over and I figured with this type of “cake” would be easy enough for them to make. It went pretty well but I had no time to take extra pictures.
Now to the recipe, as I said, cheese cake German style is fairly popular and you will find it at many bakeries and even in the frozen food isle. This recipe comes from “Backen ist Liebe … Köstliche Torten” (Baking is Love … Tasty Tortes) from Südwest publishers. You’ll find it on page 84.
Ingredients:
– 200g unsalted butter
– 250g sugar
– 4 eggs
– 1 kg quark
– 2 packages Dr. Oetker vanilla pudding
– 1 tbsp. lemon zest
– 4 tbsp. lemon juice
– 30g pistachios (if you like)
– 75g raisins (if you like)
Cream butter and sugar together making sure it’s nice and smooth. Add each egg and mixing in between to be followed by adding the quark. Finally put in the vanilla pudding, lemon zest and lemon juice. If you like you can put in pistachios and raisins, since I am not a fan of either I left them out.
Take a spring form and cover the bottom with baking paper. The instruction say you should grease the sides with butter, I didn’t and it worked as well. Fill the form with the mixture and bake at 180°C for 60 min. Even though this “cake” is fairly “wet” you still can check if it’s done with a skewer or if you lightly shake the spring form. If the center is still wobbly it’s not done. My cheese cake “cake” took longer than 60 min, maybe 90 min but I do not recall exactly.
Tip: Make sure the “cake” is cooled off before moving it. In it’s warm state it’s very delicate and breaks easily. Once it’s cooled off and even a bit refrigerated it will be easy to place on a platter and cut up.
Tip 2: If the top is getting dark but the “cake” is not done yet, place aluminum foil over it to protect from the heat.
Happy baking!
Baking in Saskatoon 
Andrea, what do you use in place of Quart here in America? In Oklahoma, I have tried to find plain joghurt that had not been processed so it would drip the whey out and leave the thick quark-like substance. it is difficult to find though. Thanks
Gwen
You could make your own quark from buttermilk. I know there are many recipes out there.
Otherwise I would just say use the cream cheese if you can’t find quark. Now I am not sure if you could just substitute it. I know it’s difficult to get quark, here, only one store carries it.
if the recipe asks for 500g Quark I use 500g cream cheese…works well
I use Philadelphia, works well. Sometimes I add a litte bit of joghurt (about 150g).
I know other people use a mix of cream cheese and cottage cheese, but I dont like the cottage cheese, doesnt make it creamy enough and I’m not patient enough to make sure that these little ‘balls’ become smooth..
Oh Yum! Must try asap!
Pingback: How to make Quark « Baking in Saskatoon
Thank Andres…yesterday I prepared and it worked. I am not really good in baking but this recipe it is easy to follow and so tasty. Yélica from Chile (but living in The Netherland)
Glad to hear it worked out. Enjoy your work.