Jörg's Birthday Cheesecake

It's becoming tradition that every year I make my flatmate a cheesecake for his birthday. This makes me happy for a number of reasons. First of all, because it gives me an excuse to bake. But more importantly, it made me realize that I've been here long enough to start establishing traditions. I have less and less "firsts" here; instead I find more and more moments of connection. Moments that feel like real life, before I uprooted myself from everything I knew.

We've been in this flat for exactly a year, and last year we celebrated Jörg's birthday in this same room with the same people. This year, I watched the same crowd show up, looking more or less like they did last year. They distributed themselves throughout the familiar background, and we went through the familiar birthday festivities. It could have been last year, at first glance.

The background was almost identical - the same furnishings, the same faces - but a closer look revealed the subtle changes of the last year. The table's been painted. There's a new poster on the wall. One of the couples is now married, another brought their new baby. I am, at long last, able to follow the German conversation going on around me. I felt like I was watching a painting come to life and slightly alter itself, so faintly that the casual observer might not have even noticed.

I'm watching life evolve here - my own and those around me. I'm not just the "new transplant" who everyone half-expected to head back home in a few months. I live here now. A network of people and places has slowly grown up around me. I'm a part of Berlin, and these people and places are all a part of me.

And I reflect on my last year here; on how much things have changed and yet remained the same. People think that when you go to a new country you leave everything behind - and it's true, you do, in a physical sense. But while the background picture of Jörg's birthday stayed the same, with only the details changing, I find that the opposite is true of moving countries. I've picked myself up and stuck myself into a new painting, but the longer I stay here the more I recognize the similarities to the old one. Life goes on, people meet and interact and grow together and then apart. We eat food and drink wine, and have our small dramas that fade into distant memory. Things haven't really changed at all. Everything stayed exactly the same... just slightly different.

And on that note: I move on to the recipe for this year's cheesecake! Last year I tried to use a recipe I found on line, but the cheesecake ended up in a puddle once we took the Springform pan away. This year I just gave up on the recipes and forged my own path. Not the best way to approach a cake destined for an audience of 30 people, but I got lucky.

This is a very German-style cheesecake. German käsekuchen is very firm and more cake-like than custard-like. It holds it's shape and lets you really pile the cheesecake on top of the crust without risk of collapse. The sturdy surface lets you spread your choice of toppings freely over the surface without any trouble, and as the cheesecake itself is fairly mild and lightly-sweetened, you can go crazy with the toppings.

The one trick with this recipe is that it is based on Quark. Click the link for a wonderful explanation of this cheese, but in short just know that it's flavor is basically the same as cream cheese, with a texture closer to that of ricotta. I had never seen it before I came here, but apparently it is available through a few creameries in the US - you may be able to find it at a high-end grocery store. If you're very curious you can also order it online at GermanDeli.com If you can't locate quark anywhere, feel free to substitute a low-fat (or full fat, if you like) cream cheese in place of it. It won't be exactly the same as what I made, but hey... almost the same, just a little different!



German Cheesecake with Plum Topping
This basic recipe could be a great starting point for a number of variations. I topped mine with the last jar of my cinnamon-plum jam, but orange marmalade or strawberry jam could be excellent as well. I'm looking forward to trying it with a squeeze of lemon and a tangy lime glaze, or with some goat cheese blended in to the filling for extra bite!

Crust Ingredients:
1/4 cup breadcrumbs (GF if necessary)
1 1/2 C. ground almonds (5 ounces if you're buying pre-ground)
3 Tbs sugar
1/4 tsp cinammon
1/2 C. butter
pinch salt

Cheesecake Ingredients:
48 oz lowfat Quark (or cream cheese)
2 medium eggs
1/4 tsp. almond extract
3/4 C. sugar
1/3 C. cornstarch
pinch salt

Crust Preparation:
Preheat your oven to 350°. Take out a 9" Springform pan, and cut a circle of parchment paper to cover the bottom of it. Reassemble the pan and lay the parchment paper down inside.

Mix the dry ingredients together in a small bowl. Melt the butter over low heat (or microwave on low power). Add the butter to the dry ingredients and stir until the ingredients come together. Scoop the mixture into the pan and pat it into an even layer. Bake this in the oven for about 10 minutes, to give it a nice toasted almond flavor.

Preparing the Cheesecake:
Briefly mix the corstarch, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large mixing bowl, stir the quark (or cream cheese) until it is soft. Add the two eggs and almond flavoring, and blend until you have a smooth mixture. At this point, stir in the dry ingredients little by little. Make sure they are thoroughly blended into the cheese mixture.

Pull the crust out of the oven and let it cool for about 5 minutes. Pour your filling into the crust and smooth the top with a spatula. If you'd like a swirl effect in the center of the cheesecake, you can do that now. Take a few tablespoons of topping and plop it in the middle of the filling. Then, take a butter knife, stick it about halfway-deep into the filling, and draw a rough spiral shape from the center of the filling heading out. This will incorporate the topping into the center part of the filling.

Bake for 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely, then remove the walls of the Springform pan. Spread thick blanket of preserves over the top, and slice into at least 12 pieces. This is a thick cake - it doesn't take much to make a serving!