RECIPE: Posh ginger spice Quark cheesecake + win a Quark recipe book

Quark cheesecake recipe in association with the Queen of Quark

I had an email a couple of weeks ago asking me if I wanted to ‘Quark up my life.’

Well. Who doesn’t?

I immediately burst into song. ‘People of the world!’ etc etc

It turns out the project wasn’t music related, but was actually a call to action from the Queen of Quark – Bavarian royalty on a mission, with World Quark Day on January 19th, to inspire the people of the UK to love Quark as much as she does for its low-calorie, high-protein, all round versatility.

All hail the Queen of Quark. *makes fanfare noise*

I decided to run with the musical theme anyway, and set myself a challenge – just how many Spice Girls can you crowbar into a Quark cheesecake recipe title? (Two apparently.)

Quark is a fat-free soft cheese, that’s similar in texture to sour cream. It can be used in all sorts of recipes, sweet and savoury, as a healthy substitute for yogurt or soft cheese. Think protein-rich fruit smoothies, avocado dips, quiche… or in my case, think ‘posh ginger spice Quark cheesecake.’

The ginger element comes from the use of ginger biscuits in the base and ground ginger in the topping, and the posh bit is the chocolate swirl on top. Have a look. Admire my swirl:

Quark cheesecake

Impressive yes? It reminds me a bit of the lovely Metis cheesecake I made a while ago – that had a VERY pretty swirly top.

If my Quark cheesecake gets you thinking about what other things you could make with Quark, then do check out the FREE E-BOOK of Quark recipes from the Queen of Quark, which you can download here.

Quark cheesecake ingredients

To make my posh, ginger spice, chocolate swirl Quark cheesecake you will need:

  • 200g ginger biscuits
  • 100g dark chocolate
  • 50g butter (and a bit extra for greasing the pan)
  • 500g Quark
  • 200g soft cheese
  • 3 eggs
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp ground ginger

I’ve gone with my usual tactic of trying to keep ingredients as simple as possible, with minimum waste, so you should find that the Quark, chocolate and soft cheese come in those sized packs. My ginger biscuits came in a 300g pack so I will just have to eat all the rest.

It’s a chore, but FOOD WASTE guys. Do it for the planet.

Quark chocolate ginger cheesecake

How to make Quark cheesecake

Time to get this Quark cheesecake on the road. (Or a plate at least.)

Start by preheating the oven to 170C/150C Fan/Gas 3. Grease a 20cm/8in cake tin with butter, then line the base with a circle of greaseproof paper.

Blitz the biscuits in a food processor or, if you don’t have one, put them into something like a plastic food bag and bash them with a rolling pin.

(Top tip #1: Do you have an ex-girlfriend or boyfriend with whom you stayed far too long even though they made a point of leaving the room when you ate/criticised your parenting/used your credit cards without you knowing? Picture their face here for the perfect ‘fine crumb’ consistency.)

Melt the butter and 50g of the dark chocolate gently in a pan and then mix in the biscuit crumbs until well combined. Use the buttery crumbs to make a layer in the bottom of your greased tin, pressing down firmly.

Empty the Quark and soft cheese into a bowl and beat well. Add the eggs, sugar, vanilla extract and ginger and beat until smooth and well combined. Add this to your tin.

(Top tip #2: For an easy post-cheesecake clean-up, don’t rest your plastic bowl on the ceramic hob where you just melted your butter and chocolate.)

Gently melt the other half of the chocolate and, once it’s runny, drop evenly spaced blobs of it onto your Quark cheesecake mix. Using a cocktail stick or similar, make swirly patterns through the chocolate. Act fast as the chocolate will start to cool and set quickly.

Pop your Quark cheesecake into the oven for 45-55 minutes or until just set. I cooked mine for about 50 minutes and it had a bit of a wobble but was firm to a (gentle) touch and starting to come away from the edges of the tin very slightly. Leave it to cool and finish setting in the tin. When you take it out it should have a firm texture that holds together when you slice it.

Quark baked cheesecake

Quark baked chocolate cheesecake recipe

Quark up your life on World Quark Day

The innaugral World Quark Day is this Saturday, January 19th and what better way to celebrate than making your own Quark chocolate swirl cheesecake?

If you’re in London you could also #QuarkUpYourLife by going along to High Mood Food at either Spitalfields Market or Marylebone stores. On Saturday they’re creating a special menu for the Queen of Quark with loads of Quark based treats, both sweet and savoury. If you’re near Notting Hill you could also pop into Books for Cooks to check out their own foodie Quark creations.

At all of these #WorldQuarkDay events you’ll be able to pick up a FREE COPY of the hardback Quark recipe book (below) so do go along if you’re in the area.

Win a Quark recipe book

As well as the free Quark recipe e-book, the Queen of Quark has also slipped me two of her hardback Quark recipe books to giveaway. It promises to boost health, happiness and beauty, which is not bad for a tub of fat-free soft-cheese.

Quark recipe book

To be in with a chance to win a copy of The Ultimate Quark Guide & Cookbook, simply complete the different entry mechanisms in the widget below. The first involves you visiting the Queen of Quark’s website to download her free e-book, and then you have FIVE bonus entry options that will count for a couple of extra entries into the competition hat. (I would say crown, but then they’d just fall through, so that would be silly.)

The competition will close at 11.59pm on January 31st and full T&Cs apply.

Good luck!

Quark

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