Sorbian cheesecake

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 1 portion of yeast dough, for 1 baking tray
• 2 kg quark, semi-skimmed
• 200 g butter, for the quark crumble
• 100 g butter, for brushing
• 200 g sugar, for the quark crumble
• 100 g sugar, for sprinkling
• 2 tbsp flour, for the quark crumble
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup of sweet cream

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Rest period approx. 4 days; Cooking/baking time approx. 40 minutes; Total time approx. 4 days 1 hour 25 minutes

Sheet cake with dried quark, for 20 pieces

In Lower Lusatia, the Sorbs make a delicious cheesecake for festive occasions. My wife and I had been searching for a recipe for it for a long time and couldn’t find it anywhere. Recently, however, an elderly woman gave us one. We tried it, and it turned out delicious. The curd is pressed in cloths for about a day. To do this, wrap the curd in tea towels, lay it down so that the whey can drain, and place a weight on top. We placed the wrapped curd in a pot with a sieve insert (a spaghetti pot) and then weighted it down with a small anvil. The whey needs to be drained off occasionally. After that, the curd will have shrunk by about half. Now it needs to be dried. You form flat dumplings from the mixture and place them on cloths. We placed them on a clothes dryer with a cloth, covered them with another cloth, and placed a fan in front of them. Drying takes about three days. The curd should be brittle afterward so that you can grate it. Mix 1 cup sour cream with 1 cup heavy cream. Grate the quark dumplings into fine shavings. Then knead them with 200g butter, 200g sugar, 2 tablespoons of flour, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and about 1/3 of the sour cream and cream mixture to form crumbles. Roll out the yeast dough on a baking sheet. Spread the remaining 2/3 of the sour cream and cream mixture on top. Then sprinkle the quark crumbles on top of the dough. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 180°C (top and bottom heat). Remove from the oven, brush with melted butter, and sprinkle with sugar. This cake may be high in calories, but it’s incredibly delicious—just like the quark flavor!