German Cheese-Cream Cake – Käsesahnetorte

Käsesahnetorte – in English “Cheese-Cream Cake” is the cake that you will always find in a German bakery! It’s a staple on a German coffee table and beloved by all Germans for its creamy texture, refreshing taste and unbelievable lightness.

When around 3 or 4 pm, Germans sit down for a cup of coffee or two, there is always cake coming with it. Bakeries are prepared to bring a selection of German’s best cakes to that coffee table and you usually buy them by slices. So, a slice of the Käsesahnetorte or Cheese-Cream Cake is for most people one of the favorite choices when they select their “piece of cake”.

Refreshing and Light

This cake has a biscuit top and bottom and between the both of them, there is a cream made from Quark and Whipping Cream, containing some juice of tangerines and lemons. Of cause, there is some sugar involved but you decide how much you want in there. In summer, I prefer less sugar and enjoy the slightly sour taste of the lemon juice but during Winter, I use a little more sugar and enjoy the sweet taste that comes with the tangerine juice. Besides the taste, the texture of the cream is just a dream come true. It has just the right amount of fluff and firmness at the same time. It might sound paradox but you will know what I am talking about once you had a bite.

Quark

I’ve covered how to make Quark three times on this blog and in videos already. It is an important ingredient in the German kitchen. Quark is basically a very fresh, young cheese without any added taste or salt. It is made from milk or buttermilk and required very little work but time that is mostly waiting. If you can’t buy Quark cheese in your area, you should plan 2 days to make it. A Greek Yogurt can be substituted but it will not have the same taste and you might want to use a little more gelatine to get the right consistency.

Fruits for Cheese-Cream Cake

Usually, we make this cake with tangerines – tangerines from a can, to be precise. But sometimes, raspberries are used, too. And if you want to make this with some other fruits like cherries or strawberries, that would be ok, too. I recently made Cheese-Cream Cake with peaches and it was wonderful. Just make sure that the fruits are soft and also you will need some sort of juice either from the fruits, a can of fruits or any other sweetened juice to use with the gelatin.

Precut the Top of the Cheese-Cream Cake

The finished cake looks beautiful but if you cut it from top to bottom, things might become messy. So, to prevent that, cut the top of the cake into the size of the slices you want to have later and just put the precut triangles on top of the cake – like a puzzle. Then, later, you can just cut between the precut tops and continue to cut down to the bottom without anything getting squashed.

Making Quark

In my blog I have already posted three ways to make Quark at home:

• Make Quark in the Oven (most authentic taste)
• Make Quark from Kefir with Whole Milk (very creamy, great taste)
• Make Quark from Buttermilk (fastest way but tastes a little sour)

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Cheese-Cream Cake / Käsesahnetorte

Barbara

A German Cheesecake – No Bake

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course Afternoon Coffee, Dessert

Cuisine German

Servings 12 slices

Equipment

Cake Ring or spring baking pan (10 inch / 26 cm)

1 Sieve

Mixer

Ingredients

 

MetricUS Customary

 

1x2x3x

The Biscuit Cake

• 3 ct Eggs
• 100 g Sugar
• 2 tsp. Vanilla Sugar or ½ tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 3 tbsp hot Water
• 1 pinch Salt
• 75 g All Purpose Flour
• 60 g Starch Cornstarch or Potato Starch

Cheese Cream Filling

• 2 cans Tangerines (Manderines) (11 oz / 312 g each can)
• 75 ml of Juice from the tangerine/mandarine cans
• 9 g Gelatine (2g more if you use greek yogurt instead of quark)
• 300 g Heavy Cream
• 500 g Quark
• 1 ct. Lemon oragnic!
• 90 g Sugar (use 115g if you like it sweeter)

Decoration

• 100 ml Heavy Cream
• 2 tbsp. Confectioners Sugar
• 1 tbsp. chopped Pistachios optional

Instructions

 

Preparing the Biscuit Cake

• Put the Eggs, Sugar, Vanilla and Salt into a large bowl and start whisking at high speed while slowely adding the hot Water. Whisk for 10 – 15 minutes!
• Preheat the oven to 175°C / 350°F (convection oven).
• In a small bowl, mix the flour and starch. Then use a sieve to add it to the egg mix.
• Carefully mix the flour-starch mix into the egg mass, folding it in by stirring from the bottom to the top while turning the bowl.
• Prepare a baking pan with parchment paper and fill the batter into the baking pan.
• Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes. Maybe more, depending on your oven.
• Let the baked cake cool completely in the pan. Then, either cover it and let rest overnight or put it into the fridge for one hour before continuing.

Preparing the Filling

• Strain the tangerines from the cans and keep 75ml of the juice.
• Chose 13 of the best tangerines and set them aside for the decoration later.
• In a small bowl, add some tablespoons of cold water and add the gelatin. Mix and let it soak.
• In the meantime, put the Quark into a large mixing bowl. Add lemon zest from the lemon and also some juice of the lemon and the sugar. Mix it until the sugar is dissolved.
• Heat the tangerine juice that you had set aside but don't heat it over 70°C /158°F!

  Add the soaked gelatine to the juice and mix it until it is dissolved.

  Now, add 2 tbsp. of the quark mixture to the gelatine, mix and add another tbsp. to it until the temperature of the gelatine is about the same as the quark.

  Next, add the entire gelatine mix to the Quark mixture and mix on high speed for 5 minutes.
• Put it into the fridge for about 30 minutes.
• Whip the cream until it can hold its shape.
• Add the cream to the Quark and stir until it is mixed well.

Assemble the Cake

• Cut the biscuit cake into two, using one half as the bottom of the cake by putting it onto a cake plate.
• Put the cake ring around the cake, then fill some of the quark onto the biscuit.
• Now place the remaining tangerines to the bottom (see video).
• Add the remaining Quark mix on top.
• Precut the other half of the cake into 12 triangular slices and place them on top of the cake as if it was one piece.
• Put into the fridge for at least 5 hours, better overnight.

Decorate the Cheese-Cream Cake

• Sprinkle a good amount of confectioners sugar on the top of the cake, then remove the cake ring.
• Whip the 100 ml of cream and put it into a piping bag with a star tip.
• Set cream decorations around the edge of the cake and add one of the tangerines that you have set aside on each precut top slice.
• Put some cream decoration in the center of the cake and add a tangerine.
• Optional: Sprinkle some chopped green pistachios on the cream to make the colors even pop more.
• Keep cooled, serve cold. Also, this cake can be frozen very well but it takes time to thaw.

Keyword baking, Cake, sweet

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!