Initially I wanted to get rid of a lot of grapes, though the resulting cake endet up beeing one of my favorite fruite cakes ever.

Note: the recipe is for a half sized cake spring form (18 cm diagonal)

Ingredients

Dough:

• 50g cottage cheese (ger: Topfen)
• 40g selfmade vanilla sugar
• 1 egg
• 20g butter
• 1tbsp milk (maybe not required)
• 120g flour
• 1/2tsp baking powder
• dash of salt

Topping:

• 400g seedless grapes (mixed color looks nicer)
• 200g cottage cheese
• 2 eggs
• 50g selfmade vanilla sugar
• 100g sweet cream
• 2tbsp starch (ca. 20g)
• 3tbsp milk (ca. 45g)

Crumbles:

• 50g flour
• 30g selfmade vanilla sugar
• 1/3 tsp cinnamon
• 40g soft butter

Instructions

Start by softening the butter. Either let it rest at room temperature up front for some hours or warm it otherwise. If you warm it in a pot or pan, remove it from the heat early enough. You want it soft, not liquid.

For the dough just mix all ingredients together. Get the baking form out, but do not butter it as you normally would. The dough is fat enough and will not stick after baking. Downside here is however, it will not stick before either. You want a very thin layer of dough on the bottom and the side surface which was a pain to get right at first try. Oiling the fingers before doing so did the trick for me. Just get a glass with 2cl oil ready and tip your fingers in every once in a while. That way you will get the dough in shape easily. Now preheat the oven to 165 degrees.

For the topping, just mix everything together well. Wash the grapes and add them last. Then fill everything into the prepared baking pan.

Last but not least mix the crumbles. Sprinkle them on top of everything and let it bake for 60-70 minutes at 165 degrees. To not burn the top I placed a sheet of baking paper over it after 30 minutes. Though you might do so 10 minutes later to get a nicer color.

The time depends a bit on your oven. Note that you want the cake to noticeable rise in the middle. Once you do see that, let it bake for another 10 minutes. Other than with normal cheesecake fillings you do not want a soft core. It should be fully baked through.

You do not have to let the cake cool down fully, just know that cutting it will not work great if it is warm:

Next time…

• Reduce sugar a bit
• Add 1tsp lemon juice to topping