It is a cheesecake, however, not the American style w/ cream cheese or the fluffy style w/ lots of whipped cream or the no-bake style w/ crackers – it’s a German cheesecake baked in the oven & based on low-fat curd cheese aka quark. In addition, it’s a cheesecake w/o cake i. e. there is only the filling!
During the last weeks I noticed in the food blog universe some approaches to German cheesecake w/o cake i. e. bottom & edge which are always very big affairs in large spring forms. However, I made this cake for a dinner for 4 people so I decided to use a small spring form instead. (Some rough calculation showed that I’d need only 50% of all the ingredients.) So I adapted the recipe & started.
There are only few steps:
- Preheat the oven & line a spring form w/ baking parchment.
- Mix butter, sugar, egg yolks until smooth & add lemon zest, lemon juice & vanilla extract.
- Add some flour, cornstarch & baking powder.
- Add the low-fat curd cheese (aka Quark).
- Whip the egg whites & fold in.
About 45 min later you get a cheesecake.
It looks somewhat naked so I opened my freezer & grabbed a package frozen red berries (strawberries, morello cherries, raspberries, red currants & whatever). Just heat them up & add some sugar – & some corn starch if you like. (You may also work with fresh berries if the season offers them …)
Spoon the chilled mess over the cheesecake when serving.
Enjoy!
- 125 g butter
- 125 g sugar
- 4 egg yolks
- finely grated zest of an organic lemon
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 65 g all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 500 g low-fat curd cheese (aka quark)
- 4 egg whites
- a pinch of salt
- 250 g frozen mixed berries
- 2 tbsp icing sugar
- 1 tsp corn starch (optional)
- spring form (18 cm)
- electric handheld mixer
- Preheat the oven to 150° C fan.
- Line the spring form w/ baking parchment.
- Mix flour, corn starch & baking powder. Set aside.
- Finely grate the zest of the lemon.
- W/ the electric handheld mixer whip the sugar & the butter. Add the egg yolks, the lemon zest, the lemon juice & the vanilla extract & mix until creamy.
- Add the flour mix & whip.
- Add the low-fat curd cheese & whip.
- Whip the egg whites w/ a pinch of salt until firm & fold it into the mess.
- Pour everything in the spring form & let it bake in the oven for about 45 min.
- After the oven session let it cool for about 10 – 15 min before removing the frame. Try to peel off the baking pachment very carefully.
- Let it cool down completely before sliding the cake on a plate & removing the rest of the baking parchment. (Trust me it'll work when carefully detauching the bottom of the cake at first & then pull also carefully at the baking parchment.)
- Put the frozen red berries in a pot & bring it to a boil.
- Add sugar & stir until dissolved.
- Add corn starch for thickening if you like.
- Let the mess cool down before serving (chill in the fridge).
