European Fig Cheesecake
When I first moved to Austria, I fell in love with the fact that every afternoon the locals would go to a café/bakery and have afternoon coffee and cake. The cakes and tarts in Austria are not as sweet and definitely not as heavy as the cakes we all know here in the US. I opened a Café / Bakery in 2004 in a small quaint town in the Austrian Alps and I really fell in love with this recipe because it is not at all like a traditional cheesecake, but rather a much lighter and not so sweet afternoon treat. I especially liked that you could make it a seasonal recipe just by changing the fruit. My all-time favorite is with Fresh Figs,so I thought I would share this recipe that I used at my Bakery in Austria. It is a little complicated, but totally worth it. This is a layered cheesecake with a shortbread like cookie crust. There is the cookie crust layer, then the cheesecake, the fruit layer, which I used fresh figs, then the more sponge like cheesecake layer. This recipe is best served chilled and with your choice of fresh fruit and powdered sugar.
European Fig Cheesecake
Ingredients
563 grams Farmers Cheese
138 grams Sugar
69 grams Vegetable Oil
22 grams Cornstarch
2 Eggs
—
3 Egg Yolks
69 grams Sugar
—-
3 Egg Whites
69 grams Sugar
——
138 grams Farmers Cheese
50 grams Cornstarch
57 grams Vegetable Oil
—-
450 grams Fresh Figs
For the Crust:
283 grams All Purpose Flour
167 grams Powdered Sugar
1 egg
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F.
In the bowl of a mixer with the paddle attachment combine the flour, powdered sugar and egg for the crust. Turn the mixer on low speed and mix until it becomes a cookie dough. Remove dough from mixing bowl and place on a floured surface. Roll dough out to a ½ inch. Using a 10” round baking pan, place pan on dough and trace the bottom with a paring knife. Now grease the bottom and sides of your 10” round baking pan. Using your rolling pin, roll the round cut out onto the rolling pin and gently hold it over your baking pan slowly unrolling it. Lightly press the dough to make sure the bottom of the pan is covered evenly. Using a fork, poke a few holes in the dough. Place baking pan in oven and bake for 10 – 12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool.
Turn your oven down to 325 f. In your clean mixing bowl, combine the first 5 ingredients and mix until well combined, about 3 minutes. Pour the mixture over the cooled cookie crust. Clean mixing bowl and combine the 3 egg yolks and 69 grams of sugar. Mix at medium speed until pale yellow and fluffy. Remove from bowl and set aside.
Clean your mixing bowl once again and combine the 3 egg whites and 69 grams of sugar. Mix at medium to high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold the egg yolks under the egg whites, now slowly fold in the 138 grams of Farmers Cheese, the 50 grams of Cornstarch and then the 57 grams of Vegetable Oil and set aside.
Next, cut the Figs into quarters and place on top of the cheesecake filling that is already in the baking pan, leaving about a ¼ of an inch in between each piece. Top the figs with the farmers cheese mixture that you set aside. Spread out evenly, place in oven and bake for 40-45 minutes until golden brown and firm to touch. Serve chilled with powdered sugar and the remaining fresh figs.
For this recipe you will need:
Food scale
Mixer
Rolling Pin
10” pan w/ 3” sides
Recipe by Nicole Simbuerger
Photography + Styling by Valerie Noell
