Quark Cheesecake!

I can't remember how long ago someone posted on Home Cheesemaking (yahoo group) that they made a 'killer cheesecake' with clabbered milk. I've been searching around for a recipe because it sounded so good.

I ran across some websites that compared clabbered milk with quark. Clabbered milk is raw milk set out at 80˚ F few days until it separates, quark is buttermilk left in a warm oven (I've read 90˚ as well as 150˚) until it thickens.

eHow has instructions on how to make quark. So does a site called Group Recipes

I found a german cheesecake recipe on a site called Diana's Desserts. If you google 'quark cheesecake' you will come up with a good sized list of cheesecake recipes using quark. I picked the one on Diana's Desserts because it uses cornstarch instead of flour. I can't have flour and I really want a taste of this cheesecake!

Although I used the recipe on Diana's Desserts, I changed it a bit because I got better results with the blender than with the mixer.

It often takes 4 days from the time I start making the Quark/clabbered milk to the time we can eat the cheesecake! Just a warning in case you thought you could whip this up for dinner tonight. It takes approximately 1 gallon of milk to make enough Quark/clabbered milk for one cheesecake.

The finished Kasekuchen. I should have put it on a pretty plate for the photo, but this one is going to German Class with Vet2Be.

Kasekuchen – German Cheesecake
Filling
3 eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
100 grams butter, very soft and at room temperature (not melted in the microwave)
6 ounces heavy cream
17 ounces quark or clabbered milk
1 1/2 Tablespoons cornstarch
pinch of salt

Blend the eggs, sugar, and vanilla in a blender until light yellow and fluffy.

Add the butter and blend well.

Add the heavy cream and blend well.

Add the quark or clabbered milk, cornstarch, and salt. Blend well.

Pour the filling into a prepared springform pan and bake in 300˚F oven for 50-60 minutes. The filling will rise during baking, sometimes resembling a soufflé. It should be a light golden brown when done. Sometimes mine takes 70-80 minutes to bake.

Turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake in the oven. Let it rest for 15 minutes before removing.

Remove from oven and place the springform pan on a wire rack to cool on the counter for an hour.

Then refrigerate for several hours before releasing sides of the pan and serving.

Sheepy likes step-by-step directions with photos so I've included the step-by-step instructions below.

I line the springform pan with parchment paper. Not a necessary step, but I can easily slip the cheesecake onto a serving plate and trim away the paper.

Place your choice of crust in the bottom of the pan. The rolled crusts will go up the sides of the pan. The photo is a graham cracker crust--very American!

Blend 3 eggs, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, and 2 teaspoons of vanilla until foamy and light yellow.

Weigh out 100 grams of butter. The recipe says 3/4 stick or 100 grams. 100 grams is more than 3/4 stick! The butter should be soft and at room temperature. Don't melt it in the microwave, it changes the butter enough that it doesn't make as good a cheesecake.

This is all that is left after weighing 100 grams. It's about 1 tablespoon.

Add the butter and blend well.

Add 6 ounces of heavy cream. I tried it with half and half and it seems to work okay, too.
Blend well.

Add 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch....

a pinch of salt (I have a measuring spoon that is labeled "Pinch")

and 17 ounces of Quark/clabbered milk. Weigh it out, it's not something American cooks are used to doing, but in Europe that is how the measure anything solid.

Blend well!

I put the pan into the oven before I pour the filling in. I tend to spill less that way.

Filling is poured in and it is ready to bake at 300˚F for 50-60 minutes or until light brown on the top.

When the top is light brown, turn the oven off and let the cheesecake rest inside for 15 minutes. Then take it out and let it sit on a wire cooling rack for about an hour.

It tastes good when it's warm, but it tastes great if it ages in the refrigerator for a few hours!

Not a quick recipe! But it is delicious!
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Update 10/3
I made it again today, but I added 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice. I liked the flavor it added!
Also, I separated the eggs and added the yolks to the sugar (instead of the whole egg to the sugar), and beat the egg whites until stiff in the mixer. Then after all the other ingredients were blended in the blender, I poured that mixture into the mixer with the whipped egg whites and mixed.

The final result was a little fluffier than adding the eggs all at once in the beginning. The texture, especially the next day, was very creamy and light. The flavor is always better the next day, too.