German Cheesecake With Greek Yogurt (Käsekuchen)
Another winner, this German cheesecake (Käsekuchen) with Greek yogurt is creamy, not overly sweet, and so good with a great hint of vanilla. Made up of short crust pastry and filled with cheesecake filling that’s flavored with vanilla seeds from vanilla bean and thickened with cornstarch (corn flour).
Servings: 12 Servings
Equipment
- 26 cm(10 inch) spring-form (or cake tin with removable base)
Ingredients
For the cake base
- 200 g (7 oz/ 1 2/3 cup) plain flour/ all purpose flour plus extra for dusting
- 65 g (2.3 oz) butter room temperature
- 65 g (2.3 oz/ 1/3 cup) sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 egg whites
For the cheesecake filling
- 200 g (8.8 oz/ 1 ⅛ cups) cream cheese room temperature
- 200 g (8.8 oz/) sour cream room temperature
- 400 g (14.1 oz) Greek yogurt room temperature
- 40 g (1.4 oz/ ⅓ cup) cornstarch (cornflour)
- 125 g (4.4 oz/ ½ cup + 2 tablespoons) sugar
- 150 g (5.3 oz/ ½ cup + 2 tablespoons) butter soft
- 125 (4.2 fl.oz/ ½ cup + 1 teaspoon) whipping cream room temperature
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 vanilla bean
Instructions
- Start off by lining a 26 - cm (10.2 inches) spring form cake tin with a parchment paper at the bottom and grease the sides with butter.
- In a bowl combine egg whites, sugar, butter, flour, and baking powder. Using your hands mix all the ingredients together to form a firm dough. Crumble the pastry into the prepared cake tin.
- Using your hands dusted with flour, press the cake base until the bottom of the cake tin is covered. Make the dough a bit high on the sides as well and set aside. Preheat the oven to 180 ° C (356°F), with both top and bottom heat.
- Using the tip of the knife split the vanilla bean lengthwise, scrape out the vanilla seeds and mix the scraped-out seeds with sugar very well. Add butter, vanilla sugar that you’ve just made, and egg yolks to an empty bowl and beat until creamy. Add cornstarch, yogurt, cream cheese, cream and sour cream and whisk to a smooth cream.
- Pour the filling into the cake base and for 60 minutes. After half the baking time, take a sharp and long knife and make a small vertical incision at into the cake (at the center). This prevents the cheesecake from cracking. Then continue baking until done. Let the cheesecake cool completely and enjoy.
Notes
- All cheesecake filling ingredients MUST be at room temperature!!