KÄSEKUCHEN (GERMAN CHEESECAKE)

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For the filling of this Käsekuchen (German cheesecake), I replaced the “quark”, which is hard to find in the US and isn’t lactose free, and used dry curd cottage cheese DCCC (also known as farmer cheese) instead. You could also use dripped yoghurt if that’s more available to you. Using honey as a sweetener has been a bit tricky for me - in the first two attempts, it left the filling and ended up giving me a honey-soaked crust and a thus tasteless filling. Heating the honey did the trick for it to finally stay put. The crust is made with almond and coconut flour, which makes it more dense than regular cake crusts, but with a hint of lemon and vanilla, it tastes very delicious. If you aren’t too thrilled about almond flour pastry crusts, you can simply bake the filling without the crust sides or even leave out the crust entirely. The cake was a huge hit with the entire family and it was completely gone by the next day!

INGREDIENTS
for the crust:
4 tbsp cold butter
3 cups blanched almond flour
1 tbsp coconut flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp freshly grated lemon peel
seeds of 1 vanilla bean
1 egg yolk (save egg white for filling, see below)
6 tbsp iced water

for the filling:
4 egg whites
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup honey
15 oz SCD legal dry curd cottage cheese (DCCC, or farmer cheese - I used Friendship Farmer Cheese)
2 tbsp coconut flour
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vegetable oil (such as sunflower or avocado oil)

tools:
stand mixer or hand mixer
9” springform pan

INSTRUCTIONS
for the crust:
Add the butter to the bowl of a stand mixer. Using a flat beater, beat the butter until soft. Add the almond flour, coconut flour, salt, lemon peel, vanilla seeds, and egg. Beat until crumbly, making sure to integrate the butter every once in a while by stopping and scraping down the sides with a spatula. Add ice water and knead the dough with your hands to combine. Divide the dough into two discs. Refrigerate for one hour.

Preheat the oven to 340°F / 180°C.

Line a 9” pie dish or springform pan with parchment paper and grease the sides with butter. Evenly distribute half of the dough on the bottom of the cake pan. Roll the other half of the dough into a string and place it along the sides of the cake pan, pushing it up the sides of the pan.

for the filling:
Heat the honey until it turns liquid but do not boil.
Add the egg yolks, farmer cheese, lemon juice, and vegetable oil to a large mixing bowl and stir until combined. Slowly add the honey while stirring continuously.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Carefully fold the egg whites into the batter until smooth.

Pour the filling into the cake pan.

Bake at 340°F / 180°C for 45 minutes until the filling is golden brown.

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