Best German Cheesecake (Käsekuchen) With Or Without Quark

German Cheesecake, a classic favorite, tastes fabulous! Traditionally, Käsekuchen is made with Quark, elsewhere, make your own, or substitute!

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Chances are, if you visit Germany you’ll encounter lots of cheesecake! All sorts. Germans love their Quark and they love to use it for making a great variety of delicious desserts and cakes. Today we’ll be making a traditional classic German cheesecake that’s fit for fancy occasions, but it’s awesome any time.

If you’re new to German cheesecake, get ready for a treat and let me warn you, you’ll not want to live without it thereafter. If you can’t get quark in a store, it’s easy to make your own for an authentic Käsekuchen. However, we’ll explore substitutions below. This way anyone can make it. So let’s make some awesome, delicious classic German Käsekuchen!

If you like German recipes, you’ll have to give Zwiebelkuchen a try, a popular German onion pie with bacon. And do try to Make Your Own Quark! It has countless uses and makes amazing desserts like this baked cheesecake, or use it raw, with all the healthy probiotics, in desserts like Strawberry Quark Mousse or Quark Dessert With Oranges! If you don’t have time to make quark, try this quick cheat: Queso Fresco. It takes less than a half hour and just 2 ingredients and then use it to make this cake.

Best Classic German Cheesecake Recipe

When I grew up in Germany, my mom used to bake Käsekuchen when we had guests visiting for ‘Kaffee und Kuchen’, which is sort of like teatime, but with coffee. And this translates simply into coffee and cake.

This is one of my all time favorite cakes and because it’s been a while since I made some, I thought it’s time to make me a super delicious German cheesecake to satisfy my cravings, and record the process for you all, so you can make your own as well! And trust me, you’ll be raving about it. 

What’s different with German cheesecake

German cheesecake has a different texture than the classic American Philadelphia cheesecake. Both are excellent, but the German version is more fluffy, the texture and taste are lighter, not as dense, and it has a fresher taste in my opinion. That’s because of the quark, the main ingredient.

Why You’ll Love German Cheesecake

• Most important: German cheese cake is super delicious! You’ll have to make your own to confirm my claim, but it’s worth it!

• It’s easy to make, and it does not need to bake in a waterbath.

• Make it in a round springform or make cheesecake bars in a casserole dish. You could also make mini cakes in muffin forms. Be sure to use a liner to get them out easier.

• Great for any occasion, from breakfast to everyday coffee break or teatime to fancy for a party.

• Easy to dress up with fruit toppings, like just berries piled on top, or serve with a chocolate or caramel sauce drizzled over it.

• Make nutty crumbles for the top and call it a country cheese cake.

• Serve it to guests that you love and would like to see again. They’ll want to come back for more!

• Great to bring to the office to improve your popularity among the co-workers.

• This cheesecake can be made ahead and it can be frozen for several months.

About Quark

Quark is a German staple that shows up in every other recipe in German cook books… well, alright, in a lot of them anyhow.

From sweet to savory, quark is super adaptable, as healthy as yogurt, lighter than cream cheese and normally contains probiotic live bacteria, which means it’s great for healthy recipes too.

It was originally made with clabbered or soured and strained milk. But most often it is made with just a tad of rennet, which helps speed up the process, makes draining it easier, and yields a more dry cheese. Check out my authentic German quark recipe if you feel inclined to make your own. I promise you won’t regret it and will want to make it for so many other recipes too, like strawberry quark mousse or quark dessert with oranges. They are super delicious sweet treats!

But quark can do so much more and tastes awesome as a dip, mixed with herbs as a spread on rye bread, or it can replace sour cream and cream cheese in recipes for a healthier, probiotic alternative. 

Substitutions

Well, I get it if you don’t feel like making quark and, unfortunately, it is not easy to find in America or many other countries outside of Germany, Switzerland, or Austria. But there are cheeses available here in America that can work as a substitute for quark.

You’ll want to get low salt versions so your cake doesn’t taste salty in the end and if you do substitute, I’d not add any extra salt in the recipe, except for a pinch to get your egg whites whipped well. 

Having said this, I want to point out that while quark can be substituted, the outcome will be different, because quark has its unique flavor and properties. So if you find some quark, be sure to use it in this recipe.

But substitutions work just fine, they just each will yield slightly different results, but you will still end up with a delicious Käsekuchen. 

One important note: Be sure that your Quark or substitute is well drained. Quark is normally pretty dry out of the box, but greek yogurt might not be. If it’s not dry and firm, drain it in a fine-meshed strainer or make a bag out of cotton and hang it from a knob to drain.

Here are a few things you can substitute for Quark:

Greek Yogurt. It is similar to quark except it is cultured at higher temperatures, which alters the taste and gives it a slightly different structure. I’d use the full fat kind. 

Cottage Cheese. This is the closest to quark that I can think of. Try to get a low salt version and to my understanding, it is also available with no salt sometimes. That would be even better. When using cottage cheese, you might have to use a stick blender or something to break up the curds and make it creamy. 

Farmer’s cheese. I hear this is available in some Russian or other ethnic stores and goes by the name of tvorog. It is a bit drier than cottage cheese or quark, but would work as well. Be sure to cream it before adding it to the recipe. 

Ricotta Cheese. Ricotta cheese can work in this recipe as well

Homemade queso fresco, or “quick quark” takes just half an hour to make and needs only 2 ingredients. Super easy!

Queso Fresco. I’m not sure how well the commercial version works, it is usually salted, but you can easily make homemade Queso Fresco with regular pasteurized milk and lemon juice or vinegar in half an hour and let it drain for another half hour before using it in this recipe. I call this version quick quark. It’s not probiotic, but since we’re baking with it, that would not be important. 

Best German Cheesecake / Käsekuchen Recipe

This is not exactly a ‘health food’ cake due to the fairly generous sugar content. It is not as sweet as most other cakes though and the rest of the ingredients are pretty wholesome, save the white flour. You are welcome to make it with even less sugar too, if you like. This recipe uses less than many other German cheesecake recipes and I think it’s perfect if you are looking for a sweet treat without the cloying sweetness.

If at all possible, I always recommend using organic ingredients, to help reduce the consumption of toxins. Every bit of effort helps and I like to support the clean food movement. The more we demand clean foods, the more pressure on the big ag to clean up their act! Just my little rant, lol. Of course, you may do as you wish!

Equipment

10″ round springform or 9″. Or use a 9×13 casserole dish for cheesecake bars (they’ll be less high). 

Large mixing bowl – for making the filling. You’ll need lots of room to fold in all those beaten egg whites at the end.

Medium mixing bowl – for mixing the crust

Smaller bowl – for beating the egg whites, 1 qt minimum.

Small bowl – for beating the cream

Spatula – for folding the egg whites into the batter and for scraping out the bowls.

Hand mixer – for whipping the cream and egg whites, and for mixing the batter

Egg beater, optional – for off-grid whipping

Parchment paper, optional – It helps to keep the bottom from sticking to the pan and makes it easier to slide the cake onto a platter if you want to do that.

Scale, optional – not required, but it’s more accurate and makes adding ingredients so much easier instead of using a bunch of measuring tools.

Cooling Rack, optional – If you want to cool the cake on the counter, it speeds up the process and protects your surface. Or you can just leave the cake in the oven on the rack to cool completely.

Ingredients

For The Crust:

Flour – this is one rare occasion where I use organic, white all-purpose flour. But there is no reason that you couldn’t try to make a whole wheat shortbread crust.

Arrowroot flour – or corn starch. Corn starch is most often GMO and heavily sprayed, so I only use organic, non GMO corn starch.

Sugar – I used evaporated cane juice crystals. This retains some of the natural minerals and nutrients that are in the cane sugar juice, and doesn’t impart a strong flavor of its own.

If you care about keeping the ingredients on the healthy side, I recommend to always avoid regular table sugar which is normally made with GMO beets that have been sprayed with pesticides.

Salt – Just a pinch or two of a good mineral salt, such as Redmond’s Real Salt, to help set the egg whites and balance the flavors of the cheese cake.

Baking Powder

Butter, softened – My butter of choice (unfortunately, I can’t make my own with naturally homogenized goat’s milk), is Kerrygold pasture raised butter. I prefer the unsalted when I can get it. If you use salted, then definitely go easy on adding extra salt or omit it altogether.

Egg – One egg and a yolk serve as a binder for this crust. Tip: add the discarded egg white to the filling’s egg whites for extra fluff.

For The Filling:

Butter – As above, I used Kerrygold

Sugar – Here too I used evaporated cane juice crystals. I think honey or maple syrup would work great, but if you use liquid sweeteners, I’d increase the flour by about half as much more.

Flour – This will help bind everything, absorb liquids and stabilize the batter. Add about half as much more if you are going to use liquid sweeteners. I use all-purpose flour here.

Large Eggs, separated – the whites get whipped separately to add fluffiness to the batter. Use room temperature eggs to speed up the whipping process. And be extra careful to not add any of the yolk to the whites. Even a tiny bit of yolk can prevent the whites from whipping up stiff. Add the discarded egg white from the crust to these egg whites, so you’ll have 6 egg whites altogether.

Quark – Homemade quark or store bought quark will be the best for a traditional German cheese cake. You can use a skim milk quark for a lighter cheese cake or use a whole milk quark for a bit more density. I used whole milk quark.

But choose any of the substitutions above instead if you can’t get quark or don’t have time to make it. My vote for the best substitution goes to salt-free or low-salt cottage cheese. If you’re using greek yogurt, I recommend the whole milk yogurt.

Whipping cream, divided – Since I don’t get cream from my goat’s milk I like to buy ‘organic valley’ heavy cream. It is made from pasture raised dairy cows. But any whipping or heavy cream will work.

Lemon juice and zest – Use the zest of one lemon and about 2 tbsp of the juice. If you have preserved lemon paste, it adds great extra flavor. You can just put a tablespoon of that in your cheesecake instead of the lemon zest and juice.

Vanilla – In Germany we used vanilla sugar, but that is not normally sold here. So you can certainly use vanilla extract.

Instructions For Making German Cheesecake

Preheat your oven to 350℉. 

Grease the sides of the baking dish and cover the bottom with some parchment. You’ll see in the picture that I covered the bottom and sides with parchment. That’s because while I found my ring, but couldn’t find the bottom. It’s still packed away in the trailer in one of the moving boxes somewhere, like so many things I need. Very annoying! But I made it work with the parchment, it did made an interesting pattern in the outside edge.

Make The Shortbread Crust:

Version one for using a handmixer: Beat the butter and sugar in a medium bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and knead to form a soft dough.

Version two, which is what I did:

If you’re non-electric, you can add the flour, starch, sugar and salt to the bowl,

Add the butter.

Cut in the butter, or work it with your hands to make crumbles.

Add the eggs.

Knead to make a soft dough. 

Divide the dough in half. 

Take one half and either roll it out into a disk to cover the bottom or just press it into the form till you have the bottom covered evenly. 

Roll the other half of the dough into a rope and lay it around the inside edge of the spring form. Press in to form an even edge all the way around the form, all the way up the side.

Set aside and make the filling.

Make The Filling:

If your quark is lumpy or you’re using a substitute such as cottage cheese, whisk, process, or beat your cheese till it’s smooth before adding the rest of the batter. 

Add the sugar, butter, flour, baking powder, vanilla, lemon juice and zest into the large bowl. Beat till smooth.

Separate the eggs and add the egg yolks into the large bowl. Put the whites into a one quart or bigger mixing container.

Beat the yolks into the mix briefly to incorporate.

Add the blended cheese and half the cream.

Beat till smooth and everything is incorporated. 

Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites, and, using egg beaters or a hand mixer with clean beaters, beat the egg whites till very stiff and you can make a clean cut with a knife.

Beat the rest of the whipping cream until firm and peaks form, avoid over-beating.

Add stiff egg whites and cream to the batter.

With a silicone spatula, fold the egg white and the cream very gently into the batter to make it nice and fluffy. 

Pour the batter into the prepared crust.

Smooth the top.

Put the cake into the oven on the lower rack.

If you’re using the BBQ, I like to put a cake ring under the cake to lift it up a little from the direct heat of the grill and stuff some of the vent in the back with foil to keep a more even temperature inside. The foil underneath is meant to diffuse the flames a little.

Bake for about an hour. 

Cheesecake is prone to cracking, but if you cut around the edge of the cake, between the batter and the crust about halfway through baking (after 30 minutes), it should help minimize cracking. I didn’t do that, but I don’t mind cracking, it’s just cosmetic. But this is a good tip for avoiding it.

Your cake is done when the center is set up and a toothpick comes out fairly clean. Leave the cake in the oven for another hour with the door cracked slightly open. 

Take it out of the oven and cool completely, before taking it out of the form. 

Do not refrigerate until it is cooled all the way. 

Store in the refrigerator until use. If you cover it with berries, it’s best to remove the berries before storing the leftovers. This cheesecake will be good for up to 5 days in the refrigerator. Freeze any leftovers for up to 3 months.

Variations And Toppings:

Try baking it with Raisins. That is what many Germans do, and I love it that way too. Just dust a cup of raisins with flour and add to the batter after folding in the egg whites.  

Drizzle the finished cake with maple syrup, honey, a fruity simple syrup, fermented ginger honey, Elderflower cordial, a fruit sauce, cajeta, chocolate fudge or other dessert topping.

I love it with berries or a berry sauce. 

Tips For Making The Best German Cheesecake

• Be sure your quark or substitute is well drained.

• Make a cut around the cake between the crust and the filling after the first 30 minutes of baking to avoid cracking. Put cake back to finish baking.

• Leave your cake in the oven for an hour after it’s done baking, but leave the oven door open a crack.

Enjoy Your Delicious Classic German Käsekuchen!

I hope you love this cheesecake as much as I do. It’s so delicious and I love eating it topped with some berries or a berry sauce, but I love it just plain too. It’s also a great high protein snack for mid afternoon to hold you over till dinner. And, don’t judge me, but I’m known to have it for breakfast. Hey, it’s pretty healthy aside from the sugar.

So join us Germans in their Kaffee und Kuchen ritual and have some delicious Käsekuchen with your coffee in the afternoon. I bet you’ll get hooked. And, as the Germans say, En guada! (Enjoy!)

If you get to try this, be sure to leave a comment and tell us about it. And please don’t hesitate to ask if you have questions! I would totally appreciate a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating if you like my German cheesecake recipe or this article! 

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10″ round springform
Spatula
Hand mixer
Egg beater
Parchment paper
Scale
Cooling Rack
Arrowroot flour
organic, non GMO corn starch
evaporated cane juice crystals
Redmond’s Real Salt