Blackberry Cheesecake Streusel Bars With Honey

This awesome blackberry cheesecake is a German style cheesecake, made with quark or cottage cheese. A perfect way to enjoy your berry harvest! 

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This recipe is based on German style cheesecake and uses wholesome ingredients. It is not too sweet, just with a touch of honey, and tastes berry delicious! The streusel can be omitted, but I think it makes the cake perfect. And you’ll love the fresh milled Kamut and einkorn crust. It’s a bit like a graham cracker crust, but a healthy version that uses unrefined sugar as a sweetener.

And don’t fear, because it is wholesome and healthy, it tastes super delicious. And you don’t need to feel guilty about eating it. So grab yourself some delicious fresh blackberries, and lets start baking!

Try this delicious, healthy blackberry cobbler too. And if you like cheesecake, you’ll love my delicious German Cheesecake. And do try these awesome Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars. Learn how to make an easy, probiotic quark cheese from scratch, which is the best cheese for making cheesecakes and creamy, dreamy cheese desserts such as Lemon Cheesecake Mousse and Creamy Orange Dessert. 

Blackberry Cheesecake With Streusel

I’m a great fan of cheesecake, always have been and some of my favorite German cakes, besides the traditional tall round Kӓsekuchen, were all those different pastries, pockets, kolaches, and sheetcakes that had some form of cheese filling.

So my first thought, when I want to make something with berries, is how I can incorporate them with a cheesecake filling. This is what I did with my blackberry cheesecake recipe here. I had a few blackberries leftover after eating a lot fresh and making a couple of delicious blackberry cobblers, so I was thinking that it would be perfect to bake up a cheesecake with those berries.

I wanted to make it healthy and delicious. So you won’t find an overly sweet cake here, but you will find wholesome goodness that brings out the natural flavors of each ingredient and brings them together in each delicious bite. 

If you have an abundance of blackberries growing in your neighborhood or garden, take advantage of it and bake up this delicious cheesecake. Put some berries away into the freezer, and you can make this cake anytime. It works great with fresh berries. 

Why You’ll Love Blackberry Cheesecake

The sweet and tart mix of flavors combine to create a scrumptious dessert that is at once refreshing and comforting. You’ll love the fantastic flavor of this blackberry cheesecake.

You’ll have a protein rich snack for anytime, and it’s even great for breakfast.

If you make this cake with homemade quark and natural, unrefined sweeteners, you’ll have a cake that is also good for you.

This cake can be adapted. While I wrote it with quark in mind, I tried it with different, easy to find store-bought cheeses that you can use instead if you want.

Blackberries pack a high amount of potent antioxidants to help support immune functions, neutralize free radicals in your body, and help reduce oxidative damage. They are even considered a superfood.

Blackberries are high in fiber and vitamins C and K, and Manganese. They may reduce the chance of heart disease, protect against some cancers, support digestive health, support bone and eye health, and improve brain functions. 

The whole, fresh milled ancient grains give this cake crust and the streusel a fresh, nutty and delicious flavor. I love fresh milled flour, it makes a huge difference in flavor and nutrition. If you purchase whole wheat flour from the store, it will have lost much of its nutrition value due to storage.

You can substitute other berries in season and it’s just as easy to make with frozen berries any time of the year. 

It’s a great potluck and picnic cake when baked as cheesecake bars.  

Source for nutritional information: healthline, clevelandclinic

Disclaimer

I am not a doctor or claim to be qualified in any way to give medical advice. I am self-taught and this article reflects just my opinions, and experiences with herbs and vegetables, and what I’ve learned from research and years of studying herbalism, herbs, foods and their uses and medicinal value. This article is meant as an entertaining source for ideas and reference, and to encourage interest in herbalism, choosing healing foods, and natural healing. It is my hope to help you get to know and appreciate herbs, vegetables and natural foods and their benefits and traditional uses. Please do not use any of this information to replace professional advice!

How To Make Blackberry Cheesecake

I originally made this cake with quark cheese, but I’ll provide information here on how to make this with cottage cheese.

I’ve made this cake with quark cheese, ricotta cheese, queso fresco, and cottage cheese. Honestly, quark cheese is just the best cheese for making cheesecake. But I do love the cottage cheese and ricotta versions! I just don’t like all the weird things that are found in regular cottage cheese in stores, and I can’t get any healthy or organic cottage cheese where I live. So while I tried it, loved it, and will provide instructions, I prefer natural cultured quark over all other cheeses. 

Quark is easy to make from scratch and once you taste it, you’ll understand why I prefer it and why it’s so awesome, versatile, and healthy. 

Quark Vs. Cottage Cheese And Other Substitutes

I wrote this recipe with quark cheese in mind. It is the best for any cheesecake recipes in my opinion. It’s fresh, creamy and just works well. However, it is hard to find in America, and so I provided instructions on how to make your own quark cheese. It’s easy and delicious. But you can also substitute.

I tried this recipe with whole milk cottage cheese, ricotta cheese and queso fresco. They all work, but they are different in flavor and texture. You can also use a mix of half cream cheese, half Greek yogurt for a similar taste and texture as quark cheese. I did not try this combo in this recipe, but it works and is another option for a creamy cheese filling.

Here is what you need to know to substitute. Cottage cheese is a bit watery, so you’ll end up with a thinner batter. You could rinse your cottage cheese curds in a strainer and drain them well to get a firmer texture. I didn’t do that and it still worked. However, your fruit will sink into the batter and some of your streusel too. Which does nothing to diminish the awesome taste of the final cake!

Cottage cheese needs to be blended in order to get rid of the grainy texture. I tried my stick-blender and it did not work. My high speed blender worked great once I added the cream, honey and egg yolks, and it turned into a nice smooth creamy cheese batter.

You can just make the whole cheesecake batter in the blender and pour it into a bowl before adding the beaten egg whites. Blended cottage cheese made a delicious cheesecake.

Ricotta and queso fresco are best mixed in a blender too, but it is not necessary. I just used my stick blender to get a little finer texture. You’ll get a slightly grainy texture in your final cheese cake, but I did not mind that.

Equipment:

Grain mill – You’ll need a grain mill if you want to make fresh milled flour. If you don’t own one yet, I highly recommend the Mockmill. It can grind superfine to coarse flour and the flour does not get overheated in the process. It takes up little room on your counter and gets the job done quickly.

A few bowls – for mixing three layers of ingredients. Plus a one-quart mixing bowl works great for the egg whites. 

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

Hand mixer – If you’re not using a cheese that requires a blender you can use a hand mixer to make the cheese mix and to beat egg whites fluffy.

Blender – A blender is necessary if you’re using cottage cheese, and recommended for queso fresco, or ricotta cheese. I tried an immersion blender, and mine did not work well enough for the cottage cheese, but it was fine for the queso fresco and ricotta. You do get a slightly grainier texture, but I don’t mind it in this cheesecake it is still awesome. But a high speed blender or Vitamix will yield a nicely creamy cheese filling. 

Baking dish – I prefer making it in a 9×13″ baking dish for flatter bars, but I’ve also made it in a 8×10″, which gives you a thicker crust and a higher cake. And you could also make it in a 10″ deep pie dish or spring form, a deep sided cast iron skillet or make some mini cakes in lined muffin tins. Just be sure to adjust baking times.

Scale (optional) – I like to weigh my ingredients. It makes a recipe more fool-proof and it’s easier to add the ingredients to the bowl without dirtying a bunch of extra dished. If you don’t own one, here is a inexpensive scale.

Ingredients For Blackberry Cheesecake:

If you want to do the best for your health, I recommend choosing organic ingredients as much as possible. Berries are generally on the EWG’s dirty dozen list, meaning that they found high amounts of pesticides on them when tested. And commercially farmed blackberries are right up there on that list at the time of this writing.

Maybe you’re lucky and find them growing wild in your area, then use those, just be sure to avoid utility lines, sides of roads or railroad tracks, public parks and other place that get a regular dousing of exhaust fumes or pesticides.

For exact amounts please refer to the recipe card at the end of this post.

For The Crust:

Fresh milled flour – In this recipe I’m using a mix of half fresh milled Einkorn berries and half Kamut® berries. If you want to read more about Kamut flour, visit my Kamut bread recipe. If you’re using already milled Einkorn flour, Kamut® flour, or regular whole wheat flour, fluff it up before measuring or weigh it. Otherwise it will be too much. You can, of course, use all-purpose white flour too.

Sweetener – I like to use natural evaporated cane juice crystals, coconut sugar, or panela sugar (sucanat). If you like a more neutral flavor, go with the evaporated cane juice crystals, if you like a stronger molasses flavor in your baked goods, choose coconut sugar or panela sugar, which are unrefined plant juices. In this recipe, I used the evaporated cane juice crystals. You can use plain sugar too, but it will not give you as rich of a flavor and most sugar is made from heavily sprayed GMO beets.

Egg

Baking powder

Butter, softened – use salted or unsalted. But I would not add extra salt if your butter is salted.

Salt – a pinch of salt helps bring out the delicious graham-like flavor of the crust.

For The Filling:

Quark or cottage cheese – or other substitutes as described in the substitution list above.

Heavy cream – I love organic valley products. They have a grass fed heavy cream that I can even find at Walmart here in the middle of southern Missouri!

Honey – For a healthy, natural sweetener, I like honey or maple syrup best in my cheese batter. But you could substitute the same amount with other unrefined sweeteners such as coconut sugar or Panela sugar (sucanat) or for a more neutral flavor, use natural evaporated cane juice crystals.

Eggs at room temperature – You can separate them when they are cold, which is a little easier to do and then let the whites warm up while you prep your other ingredients, so they whip easier. Also, older egg whites whip easier than those of fresh laid eggs.

Vanilla extract – I prefer to use organic vanilla. You can get it in bulk from Azure Standard for a good price, or make your own, here is a great recipe.

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

Lemon zest – Use lemon zest or preserved lemon paste. I like my preserved lemon paste for recipes like this, which gives it an extra dimension of flavor.

Salt – If you’re using a salted cheese, do not add extra salt.

Blackberries – Use fresh or frozen berries and feel free to substitute with other berries if you like.

For The Streusel

Flour – I use the same mix as in the pastry shell. Half einkorn and half Kamut or spelt from fresh milled grains, but any combination will work.

Sugar – I prefer using coconut sugar, panela sugar (sucanat) or natural evaporated cane juice for the crumbles.

Cinnamon – I like to give this a generous amount of cinnamon, it goes so well with the blackberries and gives this cake a hint of fall flavor.

Butter, melted – Salted or unsalted works fine. If you use salted, I’d omit adding extra salt.

Salt – Just a pinch or two of a good mineral salt, such as Redmond’s Real Salt, balances the flavors of the cheese cake. If you used salted butter, don’t add any extra here.

Instructions For Making Blackberry Cheesecake

This recipe is for a 9×13″ pan for flatter bars or a 8×10″ or 7×11″ deep dish for thicker bars. You can also use a 10″ round form or skillet with deep sides. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grease your baking pan. Line with a piece of parchment with ‘handles’ sticking up, if you want to be able to take it out to serve.

Make The Streusel

In a small bowl mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt

Add the melted butter.

Mix well with a knife, fork or a spoon.

Place in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes while you prep the other ingredients, to firm it up a bit, which makes it easier to crumble.

Make The Crust

In a medium sized bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Cut the softened butter into bits and add them to the flour. I like to use a butter knife to cut the butter into the flour till I have crumbles. 

Add the egg and keep cutting away till the egg is mixed in pretty well.

With your hands or the flat side of the knife, knead the ingredients together briefly. It’s a very soft dough, it might help to refrigerate it for a little bit to firm it up before forming the crust and a rest will help the flour to soak up the moisture.

Place the dough into your baking dish and, using buttered finger tips, spread it out to make an even bottom.

Make The Filling

If you’re using quark cheese, you can just mix everything in a bowl with a hand mixer. That works too with ricotta cheese or queso fresco, although the final texture will be a bit grainy. 

If you’re using cottage cheese, you’ll need a blender and this works well with ricotta and queso fresco too for a smoother texture. 

Dump your cheese, heavy cream, honey, vanilla, starch, salt, and lemon zest into your mixing bowl or blender bowl. 

Separate your eggs and add the yolks to the bowl with the cheese batter ingredients. Place the egg whites into a very clean mixing bowl.

With a hand mixer and clean beaters, beat the egg whites on high till they turn white and very stiff. You’ll see peaks forming and you’ll be able to cut into it with a knife. This can take a few minutes. 

Now beat or blend the cheese cake ingredients till smooth. 

Add the fluffy egg whites to the cheese mix. If you were blending the cheese mix, pour it into a bowl before adding the whipped egg whites. 

With a spatula, fold the egg whites into the cheese mix till well combined. If you have lumps, you can also gently break them up with a wire whip. 

Pour the cheese mix over the prepared crust. It will be runny if you used cottage cheese. 

Sprinkle the blackberries over the cheese mix. If you like, you can press the berries into the cheese topping just slightly.

They’ll sink right into your runny cottage cheese filling, but will lay on top if you’ve used quark cheese. 

Break up your crumble mix and spread it over your cheesecake.

Bake on the lower rack of your oven for about 45 minutes for a 9×13″ pan. Check after about 30 minutes to see if it browns on top and cover it with some aluminum foil if it’s getting darkish. It might take a little longer if you’re using a 7×10″ pan.

Once the center is set up and you feel resistance when pressing on it, you can turn off the oven and leave it in there to cool down with the oven door slightly ajar. 

Cool completely before serving. I like to refrigerate mine for a few hours before I eat it. 

This will stay delicious in the refrigerator for 4-5 days. And it can also be frozen and kept for 3 months in the freezer, wrapped tightly with plastic wrap and aluminum foil. 

Tips For Making The Best Blackberry Cheesecake

• Use ripe berries
• Use clean beaters and a clean bowl for beating the egg whites and be sure to beat them very stiff. Using warm and older eggs helps to get firm whites quickly.
• If you’re using salted butter, then omit adding extra salt to the crust and the streusel.
• Use fresh milled flour for a truly awesome crust and topping! 

Variations

Make this with any berries, I’m thinking raspberries, blueberries, grapes, whatever is in season. And out of berry season, you can use frozen berries. Fresh red currants or even raisins would be great too, but I would dust them with flour and fold them into the filling just before pouring the batter into the pan.

Add chopped walnuts, pecans, hemp seeds, rolled oats, or almond slivers to the streusel.

Replace some of the flour in the crust and crumbles with ground hazelnuts or pecans.

Make mini cheesecakes by lining muffin tins, pressing some crust into the bottom, then put the cheese filling and berries and crumbles on top. Fill only ⅔ full, or you’ll end up with a mess, or line with tulip liners for better height. 

Enjoy This Delicious Blackberry Cheesecake With Streusel

You’ll be so glad you made this! It tastes truly awesome! Not too sweet and made with wholesome ingredients. It’s easy and you’ll love serving this to your family and friends for a healthy and delicious treat. This cake is scrumptious as a snack, for breakfast, with your afternoon tea or coffee, and perfect for taking to gatherings and potlucks. So use those delicious berries and whip up this outrageously delicious treat for your dessert today. 

I’d love to hear about it if you get to make this delicious cheesecake. And I’d love to learn about your favorite use for blackberries too. And please don’t hesitate to ask in the comments if you have any questions!

Join the Food For Life Garden Community for more great recipes and homestead tips and ideas. I’m always adding new content. Don’t miss any new posts and learn more about my off-grid farm life.

Other recipes you might like

Sourdough Discard Blackberry Cobbler – A must for summer and blackberry season. Don’t have your vanilla ice cream without it. Super delicious and healthier than traditional versions too!

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Make German Quark cheese – Make authentic German Quark, also called Topfen. A versatile fresh, soft cheese that is a staple in German cooking.

Queso Fresco cheese recipe – The quickest, easiest cheese you’ll ever make and so versatile!

Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars – Creamy, with a buttery crust, this cheesecake dessert is bright, tangy, easy, and perfect for summer gatherings, or any sweet cravings!

Lemon Cheesecake Mousse – A decadent, delicious, super healthy lemon dessert made with honey & lemon curd.

Creamy Quark Dessert With Oranges – Use unsalted queso fresco in place of quark cheese a delicious German dessert, a creamy, luxurious mousse, healthy enough for every day desserts, but fancy enough for special occasions.

Classic German Cheesecake (Käsekuchen) – How to make an incredibly delicious German cheesecake using Quark. Must try this!

Awesome Strawberry Quark Cheese Mousse – A delicious German quark dessert with pureed strawberries.

Lemon Tahini Cookies – Delicious, healthy spice cookies with lemon and honey. These spicy cookies are radical, especially if you love bold, complex flavors and healthy treats.

Make an ancient grain sourdough bread – The easiest sourdough sandwich style bread you can imagine. No kneading required and it bakes up nicely airy and chewy and tastes amazing.

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Grain mill
Immersion Blender
Blender
Vitamix
Scale
Maple syrup
Honey
Panela sugar
Evaporated cane juice
Coconut sugar
Redmond’s real salt
Himalayan pink salt
Celtic sea salt
Organic vanilla on Amazon
Organic vanilla extract from Azure Standard
Einkorn berries
Einkorn flour
Kamut® berries
Kamut® flour