Real Bavarian Cheesecake (Topfenkuchen)

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My mum makes the most fabulous baked cheesecake. So, I got under her feet in the kitchen last week to photograph proceedings.

This is the recipe, I think it’s from a 1970s magazine. Though mum knows exactly what to do, she still gets it out every time she makes the cake… a bit like a good luck charm 😉

The dough that will become the base of the cake. None of this crumbling-up-biscuits malarkey…!

Kuchenboden

QuarkThe main ingredient for baked cheesecake is Quark, also called ‘Topfen’ in Southern Germany. When I first moved to the UK more than 20 years ago, it wasn’t available, but now you can get it in virtually any larger supermarket.

Teig

And in goes the filling, which seemed to take ages to mix together 🙂

An egg yolk brushed over the top before baking gives the cake a nice golden colour

A side view of the finished article

Mmmmmmmhhhhh!

And it was totally delicious 🙂

In case you’ve missed my mum’s equally fabulous damson dumplings, just click here.

58 thoughts on “Real Bavarian Cheesecake (Topfenkuchen)”

  1. bevchen

    Errrm what’s wrong with crushed up biscuits?! I guess you won’t be interedted in a post about the cake with a biscuit crumb base that I’m making for my colleagues next week then? 😉

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      1. Anna

        Ditto my mom with syrniki (you didn’t think I made them myself, did you?), so that they can be a part of a savory breakfast, for example with ham.

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      5. Anna

        You can always scavenge for food, but everyone must know how to make a proper drink. It also makes one’s own cooking taste better 😉

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      7. Anna

        As a matter of fact there already IS one in the works on a particular (different) alcoholic beverage that might be of a special interest to you (honestly, there’s even a shout-out to you in the text), and there are notes on a cocktail post as well!

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      9. Anna

        OMG. You stole mine! No, j/k, it will actually probably be complementary, mine will be Russia-Anna-specific. You sure will have insights!

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  5. pollyheath

    I had no idea what Quark was, googled it, and got a little grossed out. I can’t really do any weird dairy but this looks SO GOOD in its final form…

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      2. Anna

        Ha! I am on a Mission to Civilize (the newsroomTM). No, really, it’s pretty much the most basic Russian dairy product, on par with sour cream. Actually we used to make it ourselves from the fresh milk (like, literally straight from under a cow) at the dacha. It’s good in so many things, sweet and savory. In the US, the closest equivalent is Farmer’s Cheese.

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      1. pollyheath

        Cheese in general is pretty gross. Maybe if they were all called such cool names like quark I’d be more into them!

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  7. Marianne

    Sooooo many different ways to make cheesecake! Your Mum’s kind looks delicious, too.

    I’m heading to Bavaria myself in December for the Christmas markets 🙂

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  9. Jackie Cangro

    Oh my goodness does this look delicious!
    New York cheesecake is well known for its deliciousness, but I’d bet your mom’s cheesecake could beat the local delicacies in a taste contest. (I would like to be the taste tester!)

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  10. Pingback: Mum’s Kitchen: Poppy Seed Cake With White Chocolate | Lady Of The Cakes

  11. theblackberryboys

    Thanks for the link to this, I missed it before. Baled cheesecake or any kind of cheesecake is my all time favorite! This looks super yummy! I might have to translate that recipe at the top 🙂

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  12. Kim in Fiji

    Oh Lordy Lordy! This looks like heaven on a fork. I’d sell my soul (or my thighs) for a bite of it, if I were in sniffing distance of it. Thank God for the seas between us!

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