I had this phenomenally creamy traditional German cheesecake recipe that was handed to me from my mum. Unfortunately there was nothing healthy about that cake.
It was full of dairy, sugar, wheat and butter. Oy! But I loved it… and fond childhood memories die hard!
So I modified the recipe. Here’s a healthier take on my favourite cheesecake of all times:
A lovely sugar reduced cheese cake with spelt crust, which even got my family’s sign of approval.
Be warned though: This cake does contain dairy, eggs and some sugar and a bit of gluten.
If you are more the gluten free and vegan, kinda gal, or you are knee deep in the candida diet then this sugar free & dairy-free cheesecake recipe out here might be more up your street. Read on at your own peril… 
For all you cheesecake craving folk out there, here’s a refreshingly lemony one to try!
- For the cheesecake filling:
. - 750 g Quark (3 x 250g pots – alternatively cottage cheese & sour creme)
- 4 medium organic eggs
- 250 ml milk [i](I used rice milk)
- juice of 1 lemon
- peel of 1 organic lemon (finely grated)
- 2 tsp vanilla (or 1 vanilla pod)
- 1 pack of cheese cake starter (or 2 heaped tablespoons starch such as tapioca or corn meal)
- 90g sugar
- (optional: 50-100g raisins)
. - To make the Cheesecake Crust:
. - 200g (1.5 cups; or 6.8 oz) spelt flour
- 65g (1/4 cup or 5 tablespoons) organic butter (warmed up)
- 1 tsp baking powder or baking soda
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 50g sugar
- Preheat the oven to Gas mark 2-3 (150-170 C, or 320-325ºF) and warm up a 26 cm (9-inch) Spring form pan in the oven.
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First Make the cheesecake filling:
. - Separate 4 eggs into whites and yolks.
- Process all the ingredients (except the egg whites) to a creamy pudding-like consistency. Don’t spread it on the cake yet.
- Use a separate processor bowl and clean blending elements to whip up the egg whites until they are stiff.
- Gently fold the egg whites’ whip under the cheese cake filling in slow big movements, careful not to over mix. This makes a cake super fluffy and rise much higher.
.
To make the Cheesecake Base & Crust:
. - Take the spring form out of the oven. Butter it and line the bottom of it with a piece of round baking paper.
- Mix the dry ingredients first. Then add the warm butter and process the ingredients with a food processor until you are left with doughy crumbs.
- Divide the dough into 2 parts. One of them being ⅔, the other ⅓.
- Spread the bigger half evenly over the base of the spring form, using your fingers to press it down firmly along the sides. Make tiny holes in the dough with a fork (helps with even heat distribution and speeds up baking time).
- Form a long sausage shape with the rest of the dough and lay it around the inside rim of the base. Use your fingers to press it down and make the sides a little higher all around (about 2-3 cms).
- Spread half of the crust base with the cheesecake filling (or all if you’re not using the raisins).
.
Top Tip:
. - If you toss the raisins in flour briefly before sprinkling into the filling they will not sink to the bottom.
- I you do want to add raisins toss them in a little spelt flour and gently fold them into the filling that you then spread over cake base. This prevents the raisins from sinking to the bottom of the cake.
- I used 50g because I only made half a cake with and the other half of the cake without. You’d use 100g for the whole cake.
- Place the cake in the center of a pre-heated oven and bake for about 30 minutes.
- Then spread a little milk over the cheesecake top. This helps to prevent it cracking open and creates a pretty golden crust.
- Continue baking for a further 30-45 minutes. Check with a skewer to see if the center has fully set.
- Leave the cake in the oven to cool down for 10 mins, then the center doesn’t cave in when you take it out.
- Cool the cake down further on a cooling rack. Then cover the top with cling film and store in the fridge overnight. It tastes best the next day.
- Take care removing the sides of the cake from the Springform pan, it tends to stick to it. Use a knife to go around the insides of the form to loosen the edges, so the filling doesn’t stick to the sides.
This was my submission to this week’s real food dishes at Tasty Traditions and Thank Your Body Thursday “Healthy Living Link up“.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Yikes – this sounds incredible! Soon as I figure out a substitute for the dairy, I’m all over this… sometime in the future.
Cat this IS incredible – if you haven’t eaten German cheesecake, you haven’t lived!
We must get together and make some! Maybe it would work with tofu? Failing that we might have to feed you lactase of whatever that enzyme is called that helps to break milk protein down…