Karl Santol’s Cheesecake No.5

Recipe from Santol’s 1914 book Der Praktische Konditor, translated by Meriel Schindler.

Ingredients

for the sponge base…
100g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
100g self raising flour
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp milk

for the filling…
500g cream cheese
1 egg yolk
100g caster sugar
70g plain flour
pinch of salt
juice of half a lemon
4 tbsp milk/sour cream
6 egg whites
handful of raisins

Method

Mix the ingredients together for the sponge base. Pour into a cake tin and blind bake.

To make the filling, mix together the cream cheese, egg yolk, sugar, flour, salt, lemon juice, and milk or sour cream. Beat the 6 egg whites until stiff and fold them into the cream cheese mixture.

Put half of the filling on top of the blind-baked sponge base. Sprinkle over a handful of raisins, and then add the remaining filling.

Bake in a hot oven at 180°C / 350°F / gas mark 4 until golden brown and the surface is beginning to crack.

Linzertorte

Linzertorte is a particularly lovely cake. Whilst apfelstrudel has made its way into the rest of the world, this cake – native to Linz and allegedly one of the oldest cakes in the world – is relatively unknown outside Austria.

The pastry base incorporates freshly ground hazelnuts or almonds, making it crumbly, nutty and light. This is layered with raspberry or redcurrant jam and topped off with a plaited pastry lattice, which allows the molten jam to bubble through the gaps. Some sort of culinary alchemy occurs when baked sweet jam and nutty pastry are combined with whipped cream, creating a contrast between the sharpness of the caramelized jam, the nutty pastry and the sweet cream.

Ingredients

for the pastry:
250g plain flour
250g cold butter
50g icing sugar
185g ground hazelnuts (or ground almonds if easier to find)
¾ tsp ground cinnamon (+ more to taste)
¼ tsp ground cloves (+ more to taste)
pinch of salt
zest of one lemon
1-2 tsp water

for the filling…
3–4 tbsp redcurrant jam
zest of one lemon

to serve…
icing sugar
flaked almonds or hazelnuts
whipped cream

Method

Pour the flour into a large bowl. Chop up the butter into small cubes and rub it into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add in the ground nuts, icing sugar, spices and a pinch of salt. Grate in the lemon zest. Without overworking the dough, bring it together using a teaspoon or two of water to form a pastry. Split the dough in half and form two balls of pastry. Wrap them in cling film and leave them to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Set the oven to 180°C / 350°F / gas mark 4. Grease the bottom and sides of a round 8-inch (20cm) cake tin. If desired, dust with polenta flour or breadcrumbs to help prevent sticking. Press 2/3 of the dough into the base of the tin to a depth of about 1cm: use your knuckles to flatten it down. Blind bake for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, roll the remaining dough into several small sausages and weave them together to form a lattice. After 20 minutes, take the pastry base out of the oven. Spread the jam and lemon zest on the base and then top with the lattice. Put the torte back in the oven for 25 minutes. Once cooled, dust with icing sugar and flaked nuts and serve with whipped cream.

Gugelhupf

You will need a metal or silicone guglelhupf or bundt cake mold – otherwise you cannot achieve the distinctive ridged or fluted which is essential to this cake. The ridges give the cake greater surface area, allowing it to caramelize slightly.

Ingredients

for the cake…
170g unsalted butter
4 eggs, separated
330g plain flour
170 ml milk
330g caster sugar
3 tsp good quality vanilla extract 3/4 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp cocoa powder

to serve…
icing sugar
flaked almonds
fresh raspberries

(Other variants of this cake include replacing 100g of flour with ground almonds and or swapping the vanilla/cocoa/milk combination for the lemon and orange zest and juice)

Method

Preheat your oven to 170°C / 340°F / gas mark 3 and grease your mold.

Beat the softened butter. While beating, add the egg yolks one at a time, alternating with spoons of sugar, to prevent curdling. Add the vanilla extract.

In a separate clean bowl whisk the egg whites until stiff. Sift the flour and baking powder and fold into the egg whites.

Gently fold the flour/egg white mixture into the butter/egg yolk mixture, taking care not to overmix. Add the milk and mix until just combined.

Pour half of the mixture into the mold. Add the cocoa powder to the remaining half and then add this chocolate mix to the mold. Using a narrow spatula or knife go round the form in a zig–zag motion to create a marbled effect.

Bake for 45-55 minutes – until a skewer comes out clean and the surface is springy to the touch. Turn out onto a wire rack and dust with icing sugar. Serve with fresh raspberries and flaked almonds.