German cheesecake, or Kasekuchen, is a rich dessert made with quark cheese, giving it a unique taste and texture. It is also known as Topfenkuchen in Austria and Quarktorte in Switzerland. The recipe has a long history, dating back to ancient Greece, and has spread throughout Europe and the British Isles.
German cheesecake, also known by its traditional German name Kasekuchen, or Kaesekuchen, is a rich dessert from Germany. As with other gourmet cheesecake varieties, there are several recipes for tasty variations of this sweet concoction, and some chefs dress up their creations with a variety of berries, raisins, or chocolate. The one ingredient that sets German cheesecake apart from other types of cheesecake is quark cheese. A white cheese created from a sour milk base, quark can feel mushy and chalky to those not used to it. It produces a different taste than one of the main ingredients in many other types of cheesecakes, cream cheese.
In different parts of the world, German cheesecake is known by other names. The Austrians, for example, call it Topfenkuchen and the Swiss know it as Quarktorte and also as Quarkkuchen. In America, where quark cheese isn’t as readily available as it is in Germany, cooks have learned to adapt by creating different types of mock quark with various methods and different ingredients, but traditionalists believe that a real German cheesecake must contain quark. A common substitution for quark is ricotta, mixed with another type of cheese or pureed.
As with other types of cheesecake, a German cheesecake is baked in a springform pan. The center of the final product rises during baking and then may fall slightly when removed from the oven, which is similar to what happens when baking other types of cheesecake. There are differences, however, and they’re mostly in taste and texture. German cheesecake lovers appreciate it for its lighter texture and less sweet taste than other varieties, but still sweet and full of flavor.
The classic cheesecake dessert has a long history and is believed to be one of the first to have been created for the first Olympic Games in Greece thousands of years ago. Historians believe that a man named Athenaeus, in AD 230, was the first person to write down the recipe for posterity. The Romans later adapted the recipe and made it their own, calling it libuma. Marcus Cato was the first Roman to write down a cheesecake recipe. The sweet pie spread to other areas as the Roman Empire grew, reaching parts of Europe and the British Isles.
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