Creamy German Cheesecake with Strawberries

Creamy German Cheesecake with strawberries, that’s what you will get today. You may ask what German cheesecake is compared to American cheesecake? The main differences are that you use quark or curd cheese instead of only cream cheese and you have a pie crust to keep it all together and not your typical cookie crust. Do you want to give this cheesecake a try? The version you see below is the creamiest of them all. You can eat it plain or serve it, as I did, with a strwaberry topping. If you rather try some other, this is more traditional cream cheesecake with blueberries a no refined sugar, this one with apples and caramel, this one is the traditional Japanese, or a no-bake with limes.But let’s go back to this traditional German cheesecake. Recently I don’t seem to have a lot of luck with recipes I plan to present on this blog, usually I have to try them several times before I finally end up with something I am happy with. This cheese cake was no exception. I was lured into the promises on Pinterest telling me that this was assumedly the best German cheesecake ever. Hah, I should have stayed with my precious recipe from the start. I tried several to realize that none of them compared to my beloved recipe. As stated, you can east the cheesecake plain or serve it with caramel sauce or any other topping you prefer, but I like my cakes to be juicy and fruity, hence the add of the strawberries. I cut some strawberries and also made a very simple strawberry sauce by processing fresh strawberries with a little bit of sugar.

Have you ever considered putting a cheesecake inside a pie crust? I don’t know why, but this is the most common thing to do in Germany. To me it makes sense, to keep it all together nicely, you just add a thing layer of pie crust. So no cookie crust for a German cheesecake. And then you need curd cheese, I hope you can find it somewhere. If you have an Aldi or Lidl close-by, you may get lucky, it is called quark and should be found in the dairy section. You may also have a chance in the Slavic section, it will be called tvorog. I believe the consistency to be closer to farmer’s cheese, but it is still better than regular cream cheese. If you know of places where to get it, let me know.

So if you are adventerous enough, how about giving this classic cake a try? You will have a pie crust as a base, a very creamy center due to the fact that you are using quark or curd cheese instead of regular cream cheese, and you get a super delicious strawberry topping, consisting of two ingredients, fresh strawberries and a little bit of sugar. Why not give this German version a chance?

Credit: Adapted from Bake to the roots

Print Recipe

German Cheesecake with Strawberries

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Serves: One 23-26 cm/8 or 9inch ∅ springform

Cooking Time: 30min preparation + 1 hr of baking + chilling

Ingredients

• Pie Crust
• 300 grams of all-purpose flour
• 50 grams of white sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• Zest of one lemon
• 200 grams of cold butter, cut into cubes
• 1 egg yolk, if necessary some cold water
• 
  
• Filling
• 50 grams cornstarch
• 100 grams of milk
• 400 grams of heavy cream
• 150 grams of regular sugar
• 750 grams of quark or curd cheese, you may also find it in the Slavic section as tvorog
• 4 egg yolks
• Scrapes of one vanilla bean
• A pinch of salt
• Zest and juice of one lemon
• 
  
• Topping
• 500 grams of fresh strawberries
• 50 grams of regular sugar

Instructions

1

For the pie crust mix all ingredients into a bowl and rub into pea-size crumbs with your fingers. Then add the egg yolk and work into a ball quickly. Once you can form a ball, roll out on a lightly floured surface. Move the dough every few times you roll it out, so it doesn't stick to the surface and also turn it around. Flour a little more if necessary. Oil a springform and place the pie crust in it. I like to fold it into a small parcel and unfold it inside the springform. Be sure to have your pie crust going up around the sides, too. Chill in the fridge for at least half an hour or overnight.

2

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius and place an oven-proof container filled with water at the bottom of your oven.

3

For the filling heat the heavy cream with the sugar. Meanwhile mix the cornstarch with the milk until you see no lumps. Once the heavy cream is hot, whisk in the cornstarch mix. On medium heat stir until you get a pudding-like consistency. Set aside.

4

In another bowl whisk together all other ingredients. Add the slightly cooled pudding and whisk until combined. Pour into prepared springform and bake for about 50-60min. Turn off the oven, leaving the oven door open a little and let the cake sit in there for another half hour. Let cool at room temperature before transferring to the fridge.

Notes

No idea what to do with the leftover egg whites? Check out see this blog post including how to freeze them properly.