Old-Fashioned German Cheesecake (Altdeutscher Käsekuchen)

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Old-Fashioned German Cheesecake (Altdeutscher Käsekuchen)

A traditional German cheesecake made with creamy quark and a buttery shortcrust base. Light, smooth and delicately lemony, this Old-Fashioned German Cheesecake is perfect for coffee time or festive gatherings.

Course Dessert

Cuisine German

Keyword traditional, german, cheesecake, quark, creamy, baked, dessert, classic, homemade, family recipe, buttery crust, festive, coffee table

Prep Time 1

Backing Time 1 15

Total Time 2 15

Servings SpringForm 26cm

Calories 3902kcal

Ingredients

For the Shortcrust Pastry:

200 g flour
½ tsp baking powder
100 g icing sugar
1 packet vanilla sugar
100 g cold butter
1 egg yolk

For the Filling:

3 eggs
4 tbsp oil
150 g sugar
750 g quark curd cheese
1 lemon
50 g cornflour or potato starch
1 egg white
1 pinch salt

Also:

Butter for greasing the tin

Instructions

1️⃣ Prepare the Shortcrust Pastry

Mix flour, baking powder, icing sugar, vanilla sugar, butter (cut into cubes) and egg yolk quickly into a smooth dough. If needed, add 1 tbsp of water. Cover and chill for 30 minutes.

2️⃣ Prepare the Filling

Separate the eggs. Mix egg yolks with oil, sugar and quark. Wash the lemon in hot water, dry and grate the zest into the mixture. Squeeze the juice, mix it with the starch and stir it into the quark cream.

3️⃣ Preheat the Oven

Set the oven to 180 °C (fan 160 °C / gas mark 3). Roll out the shortcrust pastry and line a greased springform pan with it. Form a 3 cm high rim, trim off any excess dough and prick the base several times with a fork.

4️⃣ Prebake and Finish the Filling

Prebake the pastry for about 15 minutes. Beat the 4 egg whites with salt until stiff and carefully fold them into the quark cream.

5️⃣ Bake the Cheesecake

Spread the quark mixture evenly over the pastry base. Bake for about 1 hour. Then switch off the oven and let the cake rest inside for another 10 minutes.
Remove the ring, loosen the edge with a knife and let the cake cool completely in the form.

Notes

Grandma’s Secret Tips

Grandma often changed her cheesecake depending on the season. She sometimes added well-drained sour cherries, rum-soaked raisins or diced apple to the quark mixture.
When she was short on time, she skipped the pastry base and sprinkled the greased form with semolina instead — that version was called Cheesecake without a base (Käsekuchen ohne Boden).

Nutrition