Lemon Quark Cheesecake
Jan. 8th, 2012 12:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eien_herrison in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
omnomnomEvery since finding this recipie on BBC Good Food, it's become our household's go-to recipe for cheesecake. It's light and not at all cloying and, bonus, if you can get quark cheese, this is lower in fat and calories than a lot of other cheesecakes.
While the estimated time is quite long, this is largely to let the cheesecake set -- this can be easily done in the evening and the cheesecake left to set overnight.
Note: method uses UK metric measurements (grams) and ingredients, although approximate substitutions have been given where possible.
Ingredients:
100g (3.5oz) digestive biscuits (or graham crackers or nearest substitute)
80g (3/4 stick) melted butter or spread substitute
200g (7oz) light soft cheese (such as Philadelphia or other similar brand)
500g (17.5oz/1.1lb) Quark (see alterations)
200g (7oz) icing sugar (confectioner's sugar)
zest 2 lemons, juice of 3
4 gelatine sheets/approximately 10g powdered gelatine
Soak the gelatine sheets in cold water (if using powder, this step is not needed).
Crush the biscuits and add the melted butter. Press in to the base of a 20cm (8 inch) springform tin and put in the fridge to firm up. If the base doesn't look thick enough, feel free to add more biscuit and butter as needed.
Mix together the soft cheese and quark, and carefully add in the icing sugar. Mix in the lemon zest.
Heat the lemon juice in a saucepan over a low heat; once it starts to get warm, mix in the gelatine sheets/powdered gelatine. Take the tin out of the fridge. Combine the lemon juice with the cheese mixture and pour over the biscuit base. Leave in the fridge until set (ideally overnight).
Dietary Info, Optional Additions & Alterations:
As this uses gelatine, as it stands the recipe is not suitable for vegetarians. I suspect using a gelatine substitute would work fine, however I've not tried it so I can't predict any kind of success. The type of cheese used may also affect its suitability for vegetarians if a gelatine substitute is used.
Quark is a naturally low fat (<0.5%), mild tasting cheese originally from Germany. If you cannot find it, you can simply add in more low fat cream cheese.
The original recipie calls for lemon juice, although I've successfully made this with whole raspberries, cocoa powder, and orange juice and fresh passion fruits. If you are not using a liquid flavour (for example, you're using cocoa powder to make a chocolate cheesecake), you will instead need to melt the soft cheese over a low heat and mix the gelatine in to that instead.
While the estimated time is quite long, this is largely to let the cheesecake set -- this can be easily done in the evening and the cheesecake left to set overnight.
Note: method uses UK metric measurements (grams) and ingredients, although approximate substitutions have been given where possible.
Ingredients:
100g (3.5oz) digestive biscuits (or graham crackers or nearest substitute)
80g (3/4 stick) melted butter or spread substitute
200g (7oz) light soft cheese (such as Philadelphia or other similar brand)
500g (17.5oz/1.1lb) Quark (see alterations)
200g (7oz) icing sugar (confectioner's sugar)
zest 2 lemons, juice of 3
4 gelatine sheets/approximately 10g powdered gelatine
Soak the gelatine sheets in cold water (if using powder, this step is not needed).
Crush the biscuits and add the melted butter. Press in to the base of a 20cm (8 inch) springform tin and put in the fridge to firm up. If the base doesn't look thick enough, feel free to add more biscuit and butter as needed.
Mix together the soft cheese and quark, and carefully add in the icing sugar. Mix in the lemon zest.
Heat the lemon juice in a saucepan over a low heat; once it starts to get warm, mix in the gelatine sheets/powdered gelatine. Take the tin out of the fridge. Combine the lemon juice with the cheese mixture and pour over the biscuit base. Leave in the fridge until set (ideally overnight).
Dietary Info, Optional Additions & Alterations:
As this uses gelatine, as it stands the recipe is not suitable for vegetarians. I suspect using a gelatine substitute would work fine, however I've not tried it so I can't predict any kind of success. The type of cheese used may also affect its suitability for vegetarians if a gelatine substitute is used.
Quark is a naturally low fat (<0.5%), mild tasting cheese originally from Germany. If you cannot find it, you can simply add in more low fat cream cheese.
The original recipie calls for lemon juice, although I've successfully made this with whole raspberries, cocoa powder, and orange juice and fresh passion fruits. If you are not using a liquid flavour (for example, you're using cocoa powder to make a chocolate cheesecake), you will instead need to melt the soft cheese over a low heat and mix the gelatine in to that instead.