Eierschecke: Saxon Sheet Cake with Quark and Custard

Method

You'll needdeep baking sheet or roasting pan (about 30 × 40 cm), 2 large mixing bowls, hand mixer with dough hooks and beaters, medium saucepan, whisk, rolling pin, spatula, plastic wrap

1. Knead the yeast dough

   Warm the milk for the dough until just lukewarm, crumble in the yeast and dissolve it with 1 tsp of the sugar. In a large bowl, mix the flour, the rest of the sugar and the salt, then add the yeast milk, the egg and the soft butter. Knead with the dough hooks for 5–7 min until the dough is smooth and no longer sticks to the bowl. Cover and let it rise in a warm place for 60 min until about doubled in size.

2. Cook the pudding

   Meanwhile, stir 5 tbsp of the milk for the topping with the pudding powder and 60 g of the sugar until smooth and free of lumps. Bring the rest of the milk to a boil in the saucepan, take it off the heat, whisk in the mixture and let everything bubble for 1 more min, stirring. Stir the butter into the hot pudding piece by piece until it has disappeared completely. Lay plastic wrap directly on the surface so no skin forms, and let it cool to lukewarm.

3. Line the pan with dough

   Grease the pan with butter and preheat the oven to 180 °C (350 °F), top and bottom heat. Press the dough together briefly, roll it out on a little flour to about the size of the pan and lift it in. Push it a good 2 cm up the sides all around, prick the base several times with a fork and let the dough rest, covered, for another 15 min.

4. Make the Quark layer

   In the second bowl, beat the Quark, eggs, sugar, cornstarch, salt and lemon zest for 1–2 min into a smooth cream. If you like raisins, mix in the raisins now. Spread the mixture over the dough and smooth it into the corners with the spatula.

5. Whip the topping

   Separate the eggs. Using the beaters, whip the egg whites with the salt, slowly sprinkling in the remaining 90 g of sugar, until the meringue is stiff and glossy and holds peaks. Briefly stir the lukewarm pudding and work in the egg yolks one at a time. Gently fold in the beaten egg whites in two batches and carefully spread the airy cream over the Quark.

6. Bake

   Scatter the sliced almonds over the top if you like. Slide the pan onto the bottom rack and bake for 40–45 min until the top is golden and the center barely wobbles when you gently shake the pan. If the topping browns too fast, lay a sheet of parchment paper over it after 30 min. Then let the cake cool on a rack for at least 2 hrs; the cream sinks a little as it cools, which is how it should be.

7. Serve

   Cut the cold Eierschecke into 20 pieces (4 × 5) with a long knife, dipping it in hot water between cuts. Before serving, dust thinly with powdered sugar if you like.