ALMOND NUT TORTE with QUARK, PEACHES AND PLUMS...& my blogiversary winner

I first heard of QUARK when I read a post at Meeta's blog @ What's For Lunch Honey, & I was truly fascinated. This was in October '08, and the only thing that kept me from making it was the lack of cultured buttermilk available here. The absence of local fresh soft cheese, makes me game to try anything that I possibly can. Have tried ricotta and mascarpone, and both turned our superb. Then one day I found a local product called 'chaach' and it turned out to be cultured buttermilk. This coincided with reading Arwen's post @ HogletK for homemade quark. There was no time to waste...

Quark (or qvark) is a fresh cheese of Central European soft cheese. Dictionaries usually translate it as curd cheese. It is soft, white and un-aged, similar to fromage frais. It is not the same thing as cream cheese or cottage cheese. It is distinct from ricotta because ricotta is made from scalded whey. It usually has much lower fat content (about the same as yogurt) than cream cheeses and has no salt added. Quark is a form which is especially popular in Germany, where a number of dairies produce it. It is often used as an ingredient for sandwiches, salads, and a kind of cake similar to cheesecake, called "Käsekuchen" in Germany and "kwarktaart" in the Netherlands. In these cakes, it is typically mixed with eggs, milk or cream, and sugar, and baked. Quark flavored with vanilla or fruit is used as a dessert in the Netherlands and Germany.Quark is an easy & creamy curd cheese to make, and a fabulous substitute for cream cheese. It is light, yet thick and creamy, and very slightly tart. That tartness can easily be overcome by sweetening the cheese. Once made, I was impatient to use it. I had waited so long. Narrowed down my choices, being gallantly tweeted along by both Arwen & Meeta, I settled for an Alice Medrich recipe , Quark Souffle. Yes, No,Yes, No...plenty of indecision later, saved the recipe for winter. Don't fancy a warm souffle in hot & humid times like these. Besides, souffles are meant to be eaten pretty soon, warm & puffy, out of the oven. Hmmm, pure lack of photo opportunity here I'd say, so the blog may have to go hungry!

So under pressure of the quark now threatening to expire, I put on my thinking cap, scrabbled around in the fridge, found fruit and turned out this beautiful cake. I had peaches and plums in the fridge, and the bottom of my Peach-Rosemary Jam jar waiting to be scraped. I worked by gut feelings, but then you can hardly go wrong with flavours that compliment each other so well. Plums & peaches make good partners, throw in almonds and you make magic. Quark was quite the crowning glory.

The base is an almond nut torte that created from a recipe I often use, and the rest I did as I went along. Summery & light, yet full of flavour and refreshing, this turned out to be a beautiful torte. If you have never met quark, I think there never was a better time for an introduction. This cheese needs to be celebrated for its creaminess, its ease of preparation, and its versatility. A soft fresh cream cheese sans the calories is an option too good to be ignored.

I put together the cake & let it sit in the fridge to set overnight. It got chilled right through, & the flavours matured beautifully. The almonds in the sponge lend this a denser or heavier texture, yet the texture goes well with the sweetened quark, and it is a very happy marriage in the end.We enjoyed this torte a lot!