Saturday, March 27, 2010

Recipe: Kaesesahne Torte

 In my mind I'm already at Easter Sunday.  I have to play organ and I'm hosting at my house.  Lots to prep.  Anyone want to come to church or my house, let me know.

This is why finally, there is a long expected post on the cake that I get the most compliments on.  The well-known "Kaehsesahnetorte".  After this will come also variations on the theme.  This is what it looks like:


However, whoever posted the picture of this cake to the internet, did not do it quite right.  The top layer is very thick and if you tried to cut the cake, you will inadvertently squish the quark-gelatin layer beneath it.  MY MOTHER taught me to cut the top layer into 16 little wedges and place the top on pre-cut. Plus, the top layer should not be this thick to start with. 

Found this other picture.  It should look more like this, but make 16 pieces.




To shop ahead:  make sure that you have a spring form, some wax paper, 600 gr of quark (deli section) and whipping cream and gelatin.  Also vanilla sugar (should really be a staple), and 2 cans of mandarin oranges, if desired.  Then you can get started.  At first it seems all a little involved.  But with practice it is not a difficult cake and it is always appreciated for it's light, creamy composition.  It never flops.  A perennial winner.  (However, never cut back on gelatin;  then it would flop for sure.)

Cake portion:

125 gr butter
125 gr sugar
125 gr flour
2 eggs
1.5 teaspoons baking power

make a regular stirred dough, bake in round spring form;  if possible bake the day ahead for easier cutting in half.

For Americans:  get a little kitchen scale that measures grams and ounces, or else remember that 30 gr. is an ounce.

Cream portion:

In a pot on the stove on lower heat and stirring:

heat 1/2 liter of milk
with 4 stirred egg yolks and 200 gr sugar,
1 package vanilla sugar
2 packages of gelatin.

You do want to bring this to a boil, so you want some heat, or else you'll be there all day, but you don't want to scorch anything, so be careful and stir.  I usually start out very gently and let the gelatin dissolve then add the remainder and increase the heat.

After it has boiled, you need to let it cool down.  I usually put it in a cold water bath, so it goes more quickly.  If my quark is frozen, I can put it in and let it help cool down the mix.

Once it has cooled, you want to add in total
600 gr quark
250 ml of whipped whipping cream.

You can now put the torte together.

1.  Slice your cake portion in half with  knife or with the proper thread method (make a groove all around, lay the thread around the perimeter, cross over in the front and then pull.  Let the thread cut the cake.) (My mother, of course, always used the thread method.  My mother was a bit of an expert.  She already had a Bosch kitchen machine in the 50's, which especially was used to knead her yeast doughs.)

2.  Cut some wax paper so you can line the perimeter part of the spring form with it.

3.  Lay the bottom layer of your cake on the serving plate and put the spring-perimeter part of your form around it.  Put your fruit of choice on the bottom layer.  This is traditionally canned mandarin oranges or fresh strawberries, but theoretically you have your choice.  A little tang is nice, as the rest is quite delicate.  If you are using mandarin oranges, get two of the little cans.  Mandarin oranges are VERY nice in this.

4. Put your entire cream layer on top of this.  The wax paper spring form will hold it all together.

5.  Cut your top layer of the cake into 16 wedges (half it, quarter it,...)  Put your wedges on top.

6.  Put in the fridge for TOMORROW, as the gelatin has to set.  I'd say, give it at least 10 hours to set.

7.  Serve with dusting of powdered sugar.

Make the day ahead for any occasion.

12 comments:

Steve Martin said...

I think I can eat two of those!

(It may take an hour or two)

Anonymous said...

Well, doesn't that sound delicious! And I learned something new: I never heard of quark before so I looked it up in Wikipedia. Interesting! And it's available in delis?
Hope you're having fun prepping for your Easter gathering!
Love,
Ruth

Brigitte said...

Hi Ruth, Superstore has the quark in the deli section, right next to the ricotta cheese. Quark is just plain milk solids that have not been boiled up like in cottage cheese. It is nice and smooth without fat. In fact it comes in fat free.

Brigitte said...

Steve you can't eat two of those. You eat 1/16 slice of it. What are you thinking! :)

Anonymous said...

i love to add mandarin oranges , thats what my Mom back home always does .

Brigitte said...

Mandarin oranges are the best, I agree!

Anonymous said...

i was wondering ....what temp and how long to bake the cake portion?

Brigitte said...

Well, it does not that long because it is a thin layer. So I don't like to give time. I'd watch it carefully the first time, depending on your oven.

I'd say not too hot and maybe 20 min. But do watch.

Anonymous said...

I have been looking for a recipe for this for at least ten years. The woman whose torte I have eaten doesn't share her recipe as she sells them, but she called it a German cheesecake. Every recipe I found when I looked for German cheesecake, however, was baked and I knew that would fearful filling was NOT baked. Thank you. Also, I have been unable to find quake and have been told I could use combinations of sour cream and cottage cheese or sub cream cheese, etc. Can you suggest what I might sub if anything?

Brigitte said...

Dear Anonymous: the quark freezes well. If you can find it somewhere, just buy it and freeze it. I don't recommend cottage cheese even if blended as smooth as possible, it is not smooth enough for me. You can use anything else, though, like yogurt. Just make sure that you use enough gelatin. Sometimes, I make right through the fridge, see what I have left over. A bit of quark, or yogurt or cream cheese, or all of it, blended. Hope that helps.

Anonymous said...

Thank you! I finally found quark in a specialty grocery. It is delicious and very low in calories, so I would eat it like my daughter-in-law says she did in Germany - if it weren't so costly. I noticed that part of my previous post made no sense. The words "would" and "fearful" were from a sentence I had to delete due to the length of the post. I also know it is quark, not quake! Anyway, I am so anxious to make this, as it is really unusually delicious. I may use Greek yogurt, for cost reasons, as it is somewhat similar and easier to find. Again,many thanks for the detailed directions, the advice and the recipe.

Brigitte said...

Yogurt is very nice.