German Cheesecake Käsekuchen Recipes

AUTHENTIC GERMAN CHEESECAKE

Steps:

• Combine sifted flour, baking powder, salt, lemon zest, sugar, and vanilla sugar or extract.
• Cut in the cold butter. Add the beaten egg and then use your hands to form into a dough.
• Wrap dough in plastic and chill in the fridge for an hour.
• After the dough has chilled, form it into a disc and then roll it out on a floured surface. Shape dough into a disc again, and roll it out once or twice more. I found the dough very crumbly and hard to work with at first, but after I rolled it out twice, it became much easier to work with.
• Roll dough out once more and then transfer to a prepared 9-inch springform pan. (See photos above for how to fold and transfer the dough to the springform pan.) Use your fingers to press the dough so that it evenly covers the bottom and all the way up the sides of the pan.
• Beat the egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla sugar until pale. Add softened butter and continue beating until well combined. Add the heavy cream and beat again. Add quark (or Greek yogurt or pureed cottage cheese) and beat one more time until everything is thoroughly combined.
• Beat egg whites and salt to stiff peaks in a separate bowl. Fold egg whites and sifted cornstarch into cheesecake batter.
• Pour cheesecake batter into a 9-inch springform pan and bake on 300F for about 60 minutes. (My cheesecake needed 70 minutes.) The cheesecake is done when the edges are browned and a toothpick comes out clean. The center of the cheesecake will be a bit wiggly and it will fall as it cools - that's normal.
• Let the cheesecake cool on the counter for an hour and then several hours in the fridge. It's best to make this cheesecake the day before you want to serve it. Enjoy!

GERMAN CHEESECAKE (KäSEKUCHEN)

Steps:

• Add the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder into a medium-sized bowl and give everything a stir with a spoon.
• Cut up the cold butter into small cubes and add them into the bowl. Also, add the vanilla extract and the egg into the bowl.
• Mix everything with the spiral dough hooks of your electric mixer or your clean hands until the dough is well combined and forms a ball. Cover the bowl with cling film and place it in the fridge.
• In a separate large bowl, mix the eggs with the sugar using the normal beaters of your electric mixer until you have a creamy mixture. Add the pudding powder and vanilla extract and mix again until everything is well combined. Then add the oil and the lemon zest and mix again.
• In another bowl, whip the cream using clean (!) beaters of your electric mixer.
• Fold the whipped cream and quark into the mixture in the large bowl little by little using a spatula or large spoon. Make sure everything is well combined and there are no lumps. Set the mixture aside.
• Line the bottom of your 9 1/2 inch springform pan with parchment paper and grease the sides. Also preheat the oven to 330 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Take out the dough from the fridge and sprinkle your countertop with a little bit of flour. Roll out your dough using a rolling pin until it is just a bit larger than your springform pan. Place the rolled out dough into the pan and press it into place. You should have a crust of approx. 1 inch going up the sides of the pan.
• Once your crust is fitted well, pour the filling into the pan and make sure it is evenly distributed using a spatula or spoon.
• Bake the cake in the lower third of your oven for 60-70 minutes. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool fully before removing the ring of the springform pan. You can dust the cheesecake with powdered sugar before serving (optional).