German baked cheesecake

This Cheesecake recipe is really good. It has a rich lively filling with a few raisins that make it something extraordinary. There is something so appealing about a beautifully browned baked cheesecake with its rich and creamy center you just have to try this. The pastry is part of it’s unique flavour so make the extra effort. (23cm springform cake tin)

What you need

Pastry
200g flour
100g cold butter cubed
100g caster sugar
4 egg yolks
½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon vanilla essence

Filling
4 large eggs separated
200g white sugar
500g cream cheese (room temp)
500g sour cream
3 tablespoons maizena (corn flour)
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
Finely grated rind of 1 lemon
100g raisins

The process

First we need to make the pastry

Sift the flour a pile on a clean work surface and make a well in the center. Don’t be shy, make it a nice size well. Add all of the rest of the ingredients to the well and start to combine them with you fingers.

To start off with take a little flour from the inside edge all around and get messy folks, pinching all of the ingredients together to combine them. Now take a spatula or pastry scraper and work in all of the flour until you have a course crumb texture.

Bring the dough into a ball and knead it until smooth. If it is still sticky knead in a tablespoon or so of flour until you get a nice smooth pastry.

Wrap it in cling film and pop it into the fridge for ½ and hour while you prepare the filling ingredients.

Heat your oven to 200 Celsius, lightly butter the inside of the tin, roll out the chilled dough and line the bottom and sides of the tine with pastry that is about 3mm thick. Pop it back in the fridge.

Add the egg yolks to a mixing bowl and beat well. Add sugar in 3 equal amounts beating well after each addition until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Now do the same with the cream cheese and beat well until smooth.

Add all of the rest of the ingredients except the egg whites and stir with a spoon until well combined.

Quickly beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold them into the mixture gently.

Now fill the pastry lined tin with the mixture(it should almost reach the top of the tin) and bake it for 1 hour in the middle of the oven.

Check on it after ½ an hour and if it is browned already, cover loosely with tin foil to prevent it from burning.

You will notice it rise above the edge of the tin and then when you remove it, it will sink down… That’s what it’s supposed to do.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about an hour, then pace it in the fridge for about 4 or 5 hours to cool and for the filling to solidify properly. Remove from the tin.

Serve it with fresh whipped cream and a little fresh fruit… It is incredible.