Cheese Cake (from Holland)

A yeast-crusted baked cheesecake of the Dutch and German type, closer to a Käsekuchen than to the cream-cheese cakes that later took over the name. The filling has no flour or cornstarch, so how you handle the cheese and how gently you bake it decide everything.

• "Kuchen" doughThis means an enriched sweet yeast dough — flour, milk, butter, sugar, egg, yeast — rolled thin and pressed up the sides of the pan, not a pastry crust. Let it rise until puffy but not doubled; an over-risen lining collapses under the wet filling.
• The cheese is the hingeA quart of cottage cheese is roughly 2 lb. Modern creamed cottage cheese carries far more whey than the dry-curd cheese meant here. Drain it in a cloth for an hour, then press it through a sieve or blend it smooth, or the baked filling will weep. Dry-curd cottage cheese, farmer cheese or quark is the closest match.
• Mixing orderBeat the yolks, butter, sugar, salt and lemon peel into the smoothed cheese first, as the recipe directs; it then adds the currants, the stiff whites and the cream in that order. Folding stiff whites into a cold, stiff cheese mass will knock them flat, so loosen the mass before they go in.
• CurrantsDried Zante currants, not fresh red or black currants. Rinse and dry them, and toss them in a spoonful of the sugar so they do not sink straight to the crust.
• OvenThe original gives no temperature. A moderate oven, around 350°F, suits the filling: it is a loose custard with no starch, so higher heat will curdle it and crack the top.
• DonenessRoughly 45 to 60 minutes for a deep pan. The center should still wobble as a set unit when the pan is nudged; it firms considerably as it cools. Cool completely before topping — several hours, or overnight in the refrigerator.
• Yield and panThe quantity fills one 9 by 13 inch pan or two 9-inch rounds, giving 12 to 16 servings. "Pans" in the plural suggests the author expected two.
• "Frills" of whipped creamPiped rosettes or a shell border of sweetened whipped cream around the edge. Apply within a few hours of serving and keep the cake cold.