German Apple Crumble Cheesecake
Today I’d like to share one of my favorite cake recipes with you. It was passed on to me by my mom and it’s become kind of legendary in our family. It’s easy and the cake is delicious. And if you like cheesecake and apples, you definitely have to try it.
I’ve made this cake at least 20 times I’d say, if not more. A couple weeks ago, my older daughter came home from school and told me about her assignment in Social Studies. She had to share a dish that represents her heritage. Furthermore, she had to write down the recipe along with the origin of the dish. Only after a brief time of pondering about it, my daughter decided to make the apple crumble cheesecake. She loves it, we usually make it for her birthday and the recipe comes from her grandmother – winner. You can learn more about the history of the cheesecake in her presentation at the end of this post.
No Quark? Use greek yogurt and sour cream.
Here is the recipe in English. Beware, I’m using the metric system. And here you can find it in German, too. Have fun baking!
Food Project
by Maleen
Why this recipe?
The dish that I have prepared for you today is a twist on a classic German cheesecake. The recipe of this delicious dessert was a part of a custom cookbook passed down to my mother from her mother when we first moved to the United States. The many recipes in it were family traditions that started many generations before I was born, so this recipe is special to be because has been in my family for a long time and doesn’t appear very often. Every year on my birthday, I wake up to this mouthwatering cake and hurry to the kitchen. Even though it usually only appears on special occasions, everyone who has tried it loved it.
History of the cheesecake
The first known cheesecake to be made was in Greek at about 2,000 B.C. As well as being a popular wedding cake, cheesecake was considered to be a good source of energy and was fed to the competitors of the early Olympics at around 776 B.C. A man named Athenaeus is thought to be the first person to write the recipe down, but historians are not completely sure. As the Roman Empire grew, so did the popularity of the cheesecake, it spread throughout Europe, even reaching the Britain Isles. Back then, the simple ingredients being flour, wheat, honey, and cheese were baked into a cake, but now there are countless variations of cheesecakes all around the world.
The special ingredient
The classic German cheesecake consists of many ordinary ingredients such as flour, sugar, egg yolks, and butter. But the item that makes it stand out from the rest is quark. Quark is a mix between yogurt and cheese made from sour milk that is very popular in Europe. However, the cheesecake I brought in does not actually contain quark. Because it is very hard to get your hands on in the United States, my family used a type of Greek yogurt as a substitute. This makes our recipe unique from others. We have also added apple slices towards the bottom of the cake that melt into the filling, giving it an extra burst of flavor. Finally, Germans love to decorate their cakes with anything from chocolate to raisins, but my cheesecake has streusel which is a crumbly mixture of the excess dough that has been sprinkled on top of the cheesecake, as well as being used as a crust on the bottom.
All in all, this cheesecake is unique to my culture, background, and family and I hope you enjoy it.
