A birthday and a beautiful baked lemon cheesecake

I lived in Germany once, Bavaria to be exact, the home of the most outstanding cheesecakes in the world. I learnt to make them with quark, a soft, fresh curd that is lower in fat than a cream cheese and has a lovely fine texture. Luckily I can source quark from local German chef – Roland from Waitete Orchard Restaurant. This cheesecake is also one of my son’s favourites and today is his birthday 🙂 Happy Birthday Rhys xx

Fresh quark, nom nom, looks like freshly made vanilla ice cream!

Make your biscuit base first… then set it in the fridge while you make the filling…

A beautiful, creamy, velvety mixture.

RECIPE

Pre heat oven to 150 degrees celsius. Line a springform tin with baking paper.

BISCUIT BASE
250g digestive biscuits, crushed
120g butter, melted
3 tablespoons of caster sugar (optional)

Combine all the above ingredients. Spread the crumbed mixture over the bottom of your springform tin and press firmly. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to set.

CHEESECAKE FILLING
1kg fresh quark  (you could exchange for half cream cheese and half ricotta)
250g caster sugar
3 tablespoons of plain flour
4 fresh organic eggs
120g butter, melted
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
zest of one lemon

Combine the quark, sugar and flour in a large bowl and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs, butter, vanilla and lemon zest and beat until smoothly blended. Pour the filling over the biscuit base in the springform tin. Place the tin on a baking tray as there may be some leakage from the base. Bake for 1 – 1 1/4 hours until the filling is set and the top is golden brown. Cool in tin and serve.