#1cake

Caidleigh found her way to Berlin all the way from lovely Toronto. She loves her home Kiez of Helmholtz Platz in Prenzlauer Berg. With all its bustling streets, cafés and an abundance of restaurants it sometimes gets very hard to choose where to have dinner at night. Her flat's large windows open onto a calm, leafy backyard which is a real place of calm within the city. On hot summer's nights, with the windows opened wide, the whole flat feels just like one big airy patio filled with all her favourite things.

CAIDLEIGH, WHAT'S COOKING?

With the summer months being full of friends' birthdays, I have literally perfected this German recipe of a bottomless cheese cake. It has no biscuit base, just the quark part (soft white cheese) and is therefore super quick to make. It's still delicious and a really pretty homemade present - perfect with lots of summery berries piled on top of it.

INGREDIENTS 6 eggs, 220g sugar, 1 sachet of vanilla sugar, some lemon peel and a squeeze of a lemon to taste, 2 packs of vanilla pudding powder, 1/2 tsp of freshly ground vanilla, 500g quark (low fat), 500g quark (full fat), a little butter, bread or biscuit crumbs for the sides.  Also: Spring form (24-26cm), baking paper

HOW TO BAKE IT

Start with covering the bottom of your spring form with baking paper and brush the butter onto the sides, sprinkling it with your biscuit crumbs. If this is getting too hard and the crumbs won't stick or your spring form leaks, just cover the sides with baking paper too and forget about the crumbs. Bring your oven to 175 C heat and place your oven tray or grate into the middle of the oven.

Start with your dough: Mix your sugar and eggs with an electric mixer until foamy. Then add your vanilla sugar and the lemon peel and juice. Continue with spooning in your 2 packs of vanilla pudding, which will act as starch and your freshly ground vanilla sticks. Now mix half of your quark in using the mixer on a low setting (1). Mix in the second part of the quark with a big spoon, but don't stir it too much.

That's your dough done!

Pour your mixture into the spring form and make sure the top is even and flat. Place your form onto the middle shelf of your hot oven and let it bake for ca. 60 minutes, depending on your oven. Keep checking on your cake- if the sides or top are getting burnt, cover it with some baking paper. After 60 minutes make the knife test which should come out easily and clean when stuck into the top.

Take your cake from the oven and cut around the sides to loosen it from the spring form. Wait another 10 minutes and open the form.

Voila, your birthday cake is finished! Transfer it onto a cake plate, sprinkle with a few lovely berries or candles and most importantly- refrain from eating it yourself.