Recipes

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Blue Ribbon Quark Crunch Coffee Cake

On a whim, in the summer of 1987, I developed the following recipe for entry in the City & County of San Francisco Fair. The judging panel consisted of 8 notable Bay Area chefs and national magazine food editors. With over 300 entries, I nearly fell over in a faint when announced the winner. This recipe is not for the faint of heart, as it requires time to complete. Your guests will never be able to guess what the “moisture” ingredient is.

Quark: (a German milk cheese, soft, cross between yogurt and cottage cheese)

3 cups whole milk

6 Tbs best quality cultured buttermilk

To make the quark, mix together the milk and buttermilk in a 4 cup measure. Cover with plastic wrap and place a rubber band around the cup near the top to insure a nice seal. Let stand at room temp 36 hours. Pour “quark” mixture into top of a double boiler over barely simmering water. Cook 5 or more minutes, enough to heat it through. It will curdle and look something like weird cottage cheese. Cool. Let the whey drain through a sieve. You now have curds (quark) and whey. If you make bread, include the whey in your recipe, as it contains protein.

Cake:

1/2 cup + 2 Tbs unsalted butter

1 cup cane sugar

3 large eggs, room temp

1 tsp vanilla

Peel of 1 lemon, grated

1 cup quark

2-1/2 cup sifted unbleached flour

3 tsp baking powder

½ cup loganberry preserves or other berry preserves (mine was homemade)

Streusel Topping:

3/4 cup + 2Tbs unbleached flour

1/3 cup cane sugar

¼ cup + 1Tbs unsalted butter

Peel of ½ lemon, grated

To make the cakes, beat butter until light and fluffy. Add sugar, ¼ cup at a time and continue to beat until mixture is light in color. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in vanilla and lemon peel. Add quark, 1 Tbs at a time. Sift together flour and baking powder; gently fold into batter.

Grease and flour a 9” springform pan. Place half the batter in the pan and smooth out. Using a teaspoon and ¼ cup of the preserves, place small mounds of preserves around the batter and smooth slightly, then draw the tip of a table knife through the preserves to insure an artistic presence of the preserves in the batter. Add the rest of the batter and smooth out. Finish off by placing the rest of the preserves in mounds and treat as before.

Streusel Topping:

¾ cup + 2 Tbs flour

1/3 cup cane sugar

¼ cup + 1 Tbs chilled unsalted butter

Peel of ½ lemon, grated

Place flour and sugar in a bowl and mix well. Cut butter into ¼” pieces and add to bowl along with lemon peel. Using one hand, squish the butter into the flour mixture with a “grab and release” technique until the texture resembles small peas. Sprinkle the streusel topping over the batter in the pan, being careful not to overload the center of the cake. Bake at 375 for 50 minutes. Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes before removing rim. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Enjoy!

[Britbrit13]

This looks really good, I could do this )) I love coffee cake!! Britt

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On 5/9/2014 Britbrit13 said:

This looks really good, I could do this )) I love coffee cake!! Britt

I hope you get a chance to make it. The quark imparts a taste that's unknown in the US, which makes it extra special. -Rebecca

[Britbrit13]

Rebecca,I'm excited about doing the quark, I was going to google it...Right not im trying to reconstruct a apple dish my daughter made i have green chopped apples from OCI and the crust..so far iv chopped the apples and added sweet wine and sugar and cinnamon and the crust iv put it in the oven with cinnamon sugar..Iv got some good bread iv thought about a warm bread pudding with the apples tossed and a vanilla sauce and the crust on top , Blessings, Britt

[sfnative]

On 5/9/2014 Britbrit13 said:

Rebecca,I'm excited about doing the quark, I was going to google it...Right not im trying to reconstruct a apple dish my daughter made i have green chopped apples from OCI and the crust..so far iv chopped the apples and added sweet wine and sugar and cinnamon and the crust iv put it in the oven with cinnamon sugar..Iv got some good bread iv thought about a warm bread pudding with the apples tossed and a vanilla sauce and the crust on top , Blessings, Britt

Brit.

The pie sounds interesting. I've never had apple pie with sweet wine in it. If your reconstruction is successful, please share with the board!

Note: When you google "quark, you'll get many references to the science of physics, so would recommend you google like this: "quark" + "Germany"

[Sabatini2]

Thanks for sharing such a special recipe, sf. And congrats on the blue ribbon!

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On 5/9/2014 Sabatini2 said:

Thanks for sharing such a special recipe, sf. And congrats on the blue ribbon!

Thank you, Sabatini2. I appreciate the kind congrats. (I was really happy to find out that the ribbon came with $250 and a lovely Italian cookbook. It was a wonderful experience.)