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Easy German pear cheesecake

This German pear cheesecake is absolutely delicious, not too sweet and easy to follow! The egg-free cake base is loaded with pears and cheesecake filling that’s flavored with vanilla. Such a great anytime treat!
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time1 hour
Rest Time10 minutes
Total Time1 hour 25 minutes
Course: afternoon tea, Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert
Cuisine: European, German
Keyword: cakes, Cheesecake, Fall recipes, fruit cake, German cheesecake recipes, how to, pear cake, pear cheesecake
Servings: 12 Servings
Author: Ester | esterkocht.com

Equipment

  • Parchment paper
  • 26 - cm (10.2 inches) springform cake tin
  • 2 bowls
  • Cutting board
  • Knife
  • spoon

Ingredients

For the cake base

  • 200 g (7.1 oz/ 1 ⅔ cups) plain flour (all purpose four)
  • 120 g (4.2 oz) butter chilled
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • pinch of salt

For the filling

  • 350 g (¾ lbs) peeled pears and core removed
  • 90 g (3.2 oz/ ⅓ cup + 1 tbs) sugar
  • 2 medium eggs room temperature
  • 100 ml (3.4 fl oz/ ½ cup -1 tbs) heavy cream room temperature
  • 200 g (7.1 oz) cream cheese room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch or cornflour
  • ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

  • Start off by lining the cake tin with a parchment paper at the bottom and grease the sides with butter. Combine cake base ingredients: In a bowl combine flour, butter, sugar, water and a pinch of salt. Using your hands mix all the ingredients together to form a firm dough. Put the dough in the fridge while you're preparing the filling.
  • Preheat the oven to 180 ° C (365 °F), with both top and bottom heat. Peel the pears, remove the core and cut into slices and set aside. In a second bowl combine sugar, heavy cream, cream cheese, eggs, vanilla extract and cornstarch (cornpowder). Whisk to a smooth cream.
  • Place the pastry into the prepared cake tin. Don't' worry, it doesn't have to be perfect. Using your hands, press the cake base until the bottom of the cake tin is covered. Make the dough a bit high on the sides as well. Arrange pear slices on top of the cake base, pour the filling over the top and bake for 60 minutes. After 60 minutes switch off the oven. Open the door halfway and let the cake be in the oven for at least 10 minutes, so that it will become nicely golden brown. Dust with powdered sugar and enjoy!

Notes

  1. I've used around 1 kg (2.2 lbs) pears for this recipe, but most of them were rotten, so I'm not really sure of how many pears you'll need in the end if they are all fresh. I weighed the pears after peeling them and removing the core and this is the quantity that I have provided in the recipe.
  2. Feel free to use canned pears to make this recipe.