A true Polish classic. You can find a recipe for Kraków cheesecake in virtually every Polish cookbook and in any respectable pastry shop in Poland. I’m sure most of you have tried it at least once in your life. Cracow-style cheesecake is one of the sweet specialties Poland is known for – a rich, traditional cheesecake baked on a shortcrust base with raisins and finished with its characteristic lattice pattern on top. I had been planning to bake it for a long time… and finally did when my sister brought me proper full-fat Polish twaróg from Poland. It was quite a feast – even served during an English BBQ!
Ingredients for the shortcrust pastry:
- 250 g plain flour
- 125 g butter, cold and diced
- 1 egg
- 100 g icing sugar
- 8 g vanillin sugar
- a pinch of salt
Sift the flour into a bowl and add the butter. Chop together quickly with a knife until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the egg, both sugars and the salt, then quickly knead the dough (you can also mix it in a food processor). Shape the dough into a ball, flatten it slightly, wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
Line a 35 × 25 cm baking tin with baking paper. Cut off one third of the chilled dough and return it to the fridge. Roll out the remaining dough thinly and line the bottom of the tin with it. Prick the base with a fork and pre-bake at 180°C for about 15 minutes, until lightly golden.
Ingredients for the cheesecake filling:
- 1 kg full-fat or semi-skimmed twaróg (curd cheese), ground three times
- 8 eggs, separated
- 100 g butter
- 250 g caster sugar
- 3 tablespoons vanilla sugar
- 3 tablespoons potato starch
- 100 g raisins
Additionally:
- 1 egg yolk, beaten (for brushing the pastry lattice)
All ingredients should be at room temperature.
Place the butter, 200 g sugar and the vanilla sugar in a mixer bowl and beat until pale and fluffy. Gradually add the egg yolks and portions of the curd cheese, mixing continuously until smooth and fluffy. Add the potato starch and mix again. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Towards the end, gradually add the remaining 50 g sugar, spoon by spoon. Gently fold the egg whites into the cheesecake mixture together with the raisins.
Remove the pre-baked base from the oven. Spread the cheesecake filling evenly over it. Roll out the remaining pastry thinly and cut 1 cm wide strips using a pastry cutter. Arrange them in a lattice pattern on top of the cheesecake and brush with the beaten egg yolk.
Bake the cheesecake for 50–60 minutes at 170°C. Allow it to cool in the oven with the door slightly open, then leave on the counter for several hours.
Ingredients for the icing:
- juice of 1 small lemon
- 150 g icing sugar
- 1 egg white
Mix the lemon juice with the icing sugar and egg white until smooth. If the icing is too thin, add more icing sugar; if too thick, add a little water.
Spread the icing over the cooled cheesecake. You can glaze the entire surface or just the pastry lattice – the latter takes more time but highlights the pattern beautifully.
Enjoy!
Pierre Herme’s recipe.
I read all comments, but unfortunately I can't answer them all. Before posting a question, make sure nobody has asked a similar one (this will be facilitated by the search engine included in the comments). Comments with links may not be published.
Blog author