German Cheese Cake (Quark Kuchen)

I had some vague memories of how my mom used to make Quark Kuchen, years ago, before I knew about cheesecake. Recently I called her up and we made it again, two times in one day, just to get it right. She did not have her method written out and had forgotten certain details. So it was good to work through it and write it down.

Ingredients for Base:

• ½ cup butter


• 2 Tbsp sugar


• 1 egg


• 2 Tbsp sour cream


• 1 cup flour


• 1 tsp baking powder


• 1/4 tsp salt

Method:

1. Grease a 9X13 glass pan or 10-11 inch springform pan. Preheat oven to 325F


2. Beat butter and sugar, adding in the egg, then the sour cream.


3. Mix flour, baking powder and salt and stir into wet ingredients, shaping it into a soft ball with spatula. Wrap in saran wrap and chill half hour.


4. Roll out on floured surface. Roll onto rolling pin and unroll into pan, going slightly up the sides or all the way up if using a springform pan. Prick with fork.

Ingredients for second layer:

• 3 cups dry cottage cheese (I used Lucerne 4% dry curd)


• 4 eggs, separated


• 1 packet Dr. Oetkers vanilla sauce


• 1 cup whipping cream


• 1 cup sugar, divided


• 1/4 tsp salt

Method:

1. Using a fork or pastry cutter, cut up the cottage cheese as fine as possible. This works best if pre-frozen and thawed.


2. Mix fine cottage cheese with 4 egg yolks, vanilla sauce packet, whipping cream, ½ cup sugar and salt. (I have not tried it, but if you cannot get Dr Oetkers vanilla sauce, you could try a small pkg Jell-O vanilla instant pudding)


3. Beat egg whites until stiff, slowly adding ½ cup sugar and continuing to beat until very stiff. Fold into cottage cheese mixture.


4. Pour and spread onto first layer.


5. Bake at 325 F for 1 hour. Add another 5 minutes if it still looks too light.


6. Run a knife around the edge and allow to cool. This cake may fall slightly as it cools.


7. Refrigerate leftover cake. Can be served with a dusting of icing sugar or with fruit topping. Traditionally we have eaten it plain.

If you cannot get dry cottage cheese, you could try regular cottage cheese or, preferably, ricotta cheese - draining the liquids using a cheesecloth.