Blueberry German Cheese Cake

This is a cheese cake based on typical German cheese cakes, which are made with Quark (instead of ricotta or cream cheese). So, the cheese cake has a 'fluffier' texture than American cheese cakes and is lighter, both in taste and calories.

Quark is a soft cheese, with a texture of sour cream or Greek yoghurt, a very mild taste and very low calories and high in protein. It gives this recipe a distinct taste. I make my own quark from buttermilk and organic milk, but it is also available in stores like Whole Foods Market.

Cake base layer:
1/4 cup Krusteaz pancake mix
1/4 cp ff milk
1 Tbsp egg beaters
¼ ts vanilla
¼ ts baking powder

Cheese filling:
4 TB lf quark (I make my own, but you can get some at Whole Foods Market)
1/2 ts vanilla
1 TB eggbeaters
1 TB splenda
1/2 TB Krusteaz pancake mix
zest of 1/2 lemon (microplaned)

Blueberry filling:
1/2 cp fresh wild blueberries
2 TB white rum (Bacardi)
1 ts sugar

Make the batter and the fillings in 3 separate bowls.

For base cake batter, just mix all the ingredients. Fill batter in a small, sprayed springform pan, and bake at 400F for 5 min.

For the cheese filling layer, mix quark and other ingredients until it is a really smooth, creamy texture.

For the blueberries, heat the rum and sugar in a small stainless steel pot on the stove, and mix until sugar is dissolved (1-2 min). Heat slowly (careful so that the rum does not ignite! Of course, if you want to burn off the alcohol, you can flambee the blueberries.). Add the blueberries, and heat mixture on medium-high for 1-2 min, turn off heat (if electric), and let simmer on still hot plate.

Now, spoon blueberry mix over the solid surface of the cake base, still in the springform pan. Carefully spoon cheese filling on top of blueberries. Bake for another 20-25 min at 400F. Let cool to room temperature before serving.

(250kcal)