Alsace-style Cheesecake | Without the Cheese

The Alsace-style cheesecake recipe comes from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking Chez Moi. This cheesecake is typical of Alsace in eastern France. It is a light cheesecake filled with, not cheese, but yogurt and heavy cream. It is traditionally prepared with a pie crust rather than the cookie crumb crust seen on many cheesecakes. Initially, I was skeptical about making a cheesecake without cheese. But the look, the texture and, ultimately, the taste of this cake win me over. As the saying goes, you can have a piece of this cake, a big slice of it, and eat it too. It’s so light and billowy.

Dorie suggests using fromage blanc, as the Alsatians do, especially if you like cheese in your cake. After making this cake, I prefer the Greek yogurt used in this recipe. It lightens the texture of the cake, yet provides enough richness — and just a touch of sweetness. The light and fluffy texture is also the result of the whipped egg whites being folded with all their aeration into the batter just before baking.

I didn’t use raisins for the cheesecake. Substituted them with cherries. I used 100 grams and there were hardly enough to cover the base of the cake. I’d use more, a lot more, next time.

The galette dough, used for the crust, has the sweet buttery flavor of a French tart dough. Besides galettes, Dorie uses this dough for the apple kuchen and apple pielettes. You can quickly make it in a food processor. (Mix 204 grams (1 1/2 cup) of all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons of sugar, sprinkle of salt, a stick (113 grams) of cold butter and 60 ml (1/4 cup) of ice water until they come together in a food processor.) It is quite easy to roll out and sturdy enough to hold the yogurt cream fillings. The dough is a keeper for a variety of cakes, pies and tarts.

See whether our friends at Tuesdays-with-Dorie like this cheesecake as much as I do, click here.

Print Recipe

Alsace-style Cheesecake with Cherries

Serves: 10

Ingredients

• 1 recipe Galette Dough
• 200 grams of fresh or frozen pitted cherries
• 225 grams (1 cup) whole-milk Greek yogurt
• 60 ml (1/4 cup) heavy cream
• 4 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
• 150 grams (3/4 cup) sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Instructions

1

Lightly butter a 9-inch springform pan

2

Roll out the galette dough into a circle about 15-inches in diameter. Lay the dough over the springform pan. Ease it into the base of the pan and up against the sides. Put the pan in the freezer while you preheat the oven.

3

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F.

4

Line the crust with parchment paper and weight the bottom of the crust with pie weights.

5

Bake the crust for 20 minutes. Remove the paper and weights and bake for 5 to 8 minutes, or until the crust is lightly browned. Put the springform pan on a cooling rack to cool.

6

Prepare the fillings: In a large bowl, whisk the yogurt and heavy cream together until blended. Then whisk in the egg yolks, one at a time. Whisk in 1/2 cup of sugar, cornstarch and vanilla extract. Stir in the cherries.

7

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

8

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg whites and salt at medium speed until foamy. Slowly add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat on medium-high speed until the whites hold glossy peaks that tip over lightly.

9

Scoop a spoonful of egg whites over the batter and whisk it in, then turn all of the whites onto the batter. Use a flexible spatula and gently fold in the whites. Scrape the batter into the crust.

10

Bake the cheesecake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until it is uniformly puffed and golden brown. The cake should feel firm and set to the touch. Transfer the cake to a cooling rack and let it cool to room temperature. Remove the sides of the pan and chill for at least 2 hours.

11

Sprinkle the cake with confectioners' sugar just before serving.

Notes

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking Chez Moi