The first time I heard about a cake called “Eierschecke”, when I saw my cousin Uta’s post in facebook. “Eier” is the German term for eggs, and “Schnecke” (snail)) is a common name for pinwheel shaped pastry, but I had not the slightest idea what “Schecke” meant, or where it might come from.
Medieval schecke – male predecessor of the mini skirt? |
My husband always gets this devout look in his face when he enters a German bakery. I, of course, view it also as continuing education, and sample solely for scientific purposes. Faithful to the Anderson credo: “Life is Uncertain – Eat the Dessert First!” we conducted a thorough investigation.
Dresdner Eierschecke bars (left of the tortes) |
Much as I love quark – it’s almost impossible to find in the US, and even if you do, it is outrageously expensive and doesn’t taste the same. Therefore I use for my German Cheesecake cream cheese as stand-in. Mixed with lemon juice and whipped egg white, it comes closest to quark in taste and consistency.
I reduced the amount of sugar in the custard by half, but the cake is still sweet enough.
There was another problem to solve. Though Richard and I like to eat cake, it’s only the two of us, and I couldn’t imagine that the airy egg mixture on top of the fruit layer would last several days without getting soggy.
So, back to asking uncle Google, this time for: “conversion large cakes small cakes”. Is there anything at all that you can’t find in the w.w.w.? Keikos-cakes.com has a very user friendly pan conversion tool on their website. (And it does rectangular pans, too!)
To convert a recipe for a 10-inch/26-cm diameter torte to a 7-inch/18-cm tortelet, you enter the pan size of the recipe and your desired pan size in Keiko’s pan conversion tool and, voilà, there is the factor you need (0.48)! Now grab your calculator and multiply each recipe ingredient with 0.48.
21 g/0.7 oz vanilla pudding powder
semolina and breadcrumbs (for sprinkling)
*) How to divide an egg into halves? It’s easy: on a scale, crack an egg into a cup, stir well, and then take off half with a spoon.
60 g/2 oz cream cheese
60 g/2 oz sour cream
In a bowl, stir together rhubarb and sugar. Mix well. Cover, and leave overnight at room temperature.
MORNING:
Drain rhubarb in a strainer over a bowl. Reserve 170 ml/5.75 fl oz of the juice (I didn’t have quite enough juice, so I substituted with a bit of milk.)
Process sweet crust, until no loose flour remains in the bowl |
Food Processor: Briefly pulse flour with baking powder and sugar to combine. Add egg and butter pieces. Pulse, until mixture comes together, and no loose flour remains on the bottom of the bowl. Or knead all ingredients by hand, or with a handheld mixer.
Shape dough into a ball, flatten into a disk, transfer to prepared springform pan, and press into bottom, making a small rim around the sides. Refrigerate, until ready to fill.
Sweet crust bottom layer |
Preheat oven to 435ºF/225ºC. Place rack on middle rung.
Following instructions on the package, prepare vanilla pudding with pudding powder and reserved rhubarb juice. Add rhubarb, and stir well. Leave mixture to cool a little bit.
Spread vanilla pudding with rhubarb pieces over unbaked crust |
Pre-bake cake for about 25 minutes. Remove from oven. Reduce oven temperature to 410ºF/210º.
Gently fold stiff egg whites into egg/cream mixture |
Pour Eierschecke custard over pre-baked torte and smooth with plastic spatula.
Spread eierschecke custard over pre-baked torte |
Bake torte for about 20 minutes, or until set (but elastic to touch.) Leave for at least 15 minutes in switched-off oven with door slightly ajar.
Let Rhubarb-Eierschecke cool on wire rack. (It will sag a little bit.)
Freshly baked, the Eierschecke-Torte looks like cheese cake. |
Or, like the greedy Andersons, eat it while it is still warm!!!
Never forget: “Life is Uncertain – Eat the Dessert First…”
Beautiful Dresden is really worth a trip – not just for the famous Eierschecke! |
G'day! ABSOLUTELY beautiful, TRUE!
Your photo makes your Torte so warm and welcoming too!
Cheers! Joanne
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Thanks for the recipe, Karin. I have some rhubarb in the garden that is ready to be used 🙂
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Thanks, Joanne! I hope you feel invited to try the torte. I assume you have rhubarb in Australia, too?
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Do try this out, Hanaâ! If you want to make a larger (10-inch) version, check the original recipe at kochbar.de.
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I am so impressed by the philosoply and by the conversion factor and I love rhubarb and this looks superb. What a wonderful and very German looking cake. I told OH what your philosophy was and says it is very similar to his, which is something like 'if there is cake it makes a better lunch than a sandwich'. We don't have 'pudding' in England, I am sure I can get it from an American importer but we do have Birds Custard powder, do you think that would work, presumably it is a thickener of some sort, like cornflour?
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Yes, I can agree to that philosophy, too!
I googled Bird's Custard after reading a post by Dan Lepard in the Guardian, and I'm sure you can use it just the same.
You don't need much, anyway, and it is just an easier and more flavorful way to thicken the rhubarb juice.
I used the German Dr. Oetker vanilla pudding powder that I can get here in the supermarket.
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What a lovely recipe! Like you I love the layers of history in the food we eat. Great pictures too! They make it really easy to try and replicate the dessert at home. I will try it with rhubarb I have in the freezer left over from last year. Thanks, Karin!
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It was fun to write this post. I have some rhubarb (and Italian plums) from last year in my freezer, too. The combination of sweet and tart is always nice.
Thanks for visiting – I have several of your breads on my to do list (the often baked Barley Bread is one of my favorites.)
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