Cheese Cake (Kaesesahne)
There are a variety of desserts in Germany considered “cheese cake.” And aren’t necessarily your typical New York-style cheese cake. As in this recipe, for example. However, it isn’t any less delicious.
A German cheesecake is made in three steps. The first step is making the dough or batter. The second step is making the topping or filling. The third step is the finishing or decorating.
Step one is the type of cake itself, it could be a sponge cake or a short pastry. The topping or filling, in the second step, can be made with a variety of milk-based products, such as farmer’s cheese, cream cheese, quark, or sour cream. The last step depends on what ingredients you’ve chosen in steps one and two. In the case of this recipe, I used a combination of sponge cake with a sour cream topping—and decorated it for Easter. Enjoy!
Baking Pans and Tools:
(Available on Amazon, click links below)
Ingredients for Sponge Cake:
- 2 egg yolks
- 2-3 tablespoons of warm water
- 100 g (3.5 oz) of sugar
- 1 package of Dr. Oetker Vanilla Sugar (OR) 4-6 drops of vanilla extract
- 2 egg whites
- 75 g (2.5 oz) of all-purpose flour
- 50 g (1.5 oz) potato starch or corn starch
- 1 teaspoon of Dr. Oetker Baking Powder Dr. Oetker (OR) baking powder
Preparation for Sponge Cake:
Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites. Add the warm water to the egg yolks and beat until frothy. Slowly add the sugar mixed with vanilla to it and beat until creamy.
Beat egg whites until stiff and put on top of the egg yolk mix.
Mix the flour, baking powder, and starch together and sift over the eggs. With a large whisk slowly mix the flour and egg whites under the egg yolk mix—starting in circles from the outside in. DON’T BEAT OR STIR! Fill your batter in a buttered springform.
Preheated oven 190°C (375°F) and place the pan on the middle rack and bake for about 20-25 minutes.
When done, remove the cake from the pan and place it on a cooling rack covered with baking paper. This will make it easier to lift the cake after cooling down.
Ingredients for Topping:
- 750 g (26.5 oz) of sour cream
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 egg whites
- Juice from one lemon
- 150 g (5.25 oz) of sugar
- 1 ½ package of gelatin
- 250 ml (8.5 oz) of heavy whipping cream
- 125 ml (4 oz) of heavy whipping cream with Dr. Oetker Whip It (for decoration)
Preparation for The Topping:
Soak the gelatin in about 5-6 tablespoons of cold water.
Mix sour cream, egg yolks, and lemon juice together. Add sugar to it. Whip the egg whites and mix it under the sour cream mix. Whip the cream and add to the mix.
Dissolve the gelatin in a bain-marie. DON’T COOK! Add 4-5 tablespoons of your sour cream mix to it and mix. Put this mixture than to the rest of the filling and mix it again.
Final Steps:
Keep your cake on a sheet of baking paper. Place the cake setting ring around the cake with just enough room to allow the sour cream mix to cover edges and run down the sides
Spread the sour cream topping evenly over and around the cake. Place it in the freezer for about 2 hours, so that the topping was a chance to harden. (You could also keep it in the refrigerator overnight.)
when ready, carefully take the ring off from the cake. If it is a little sticky, use a metal spatula to loosen. Use your cake divider on the top to mark the slices of the cake.
Use your icing decorating tool to mark the edges of the cake. Lift your cake with a cake lifter and have it on a nice plate. You are now ready to decorate the top of the cake as you wish. DONE!
HINT: I find it so much easier to decorate the top of the cake while already having it placed on a plate.
NOTE: I used multiple decoration bags with various decorative tips to line and design the Easter-themed cake below. The ingredients included 125 ml (4 oz) of heavy whipping cream with two packages of Dr. Oetker Whip It, green candy shred, chocolate-flavored candy, and some unwrapped chocolate bunnies.
