Old-fashioned Israeli Cheesecake

Israel Recipes in Translation Series #3

This Old-fashioned Israeli Cheesecake is recipe #3 in Israeli Recipes in Translation series.

Israeli Recipes in Translation is a monthly series that brings authentic Israeli recipes—often shared only in Hebrew—into English. Each recipe is carefully selected and translated to help bridge the gap between Israeli home kitchens and readers in the diaspora. Alongside each dish, I’ll share its cultural context, seasonal significance, or the personal story behind it. This is my way of staying connected to Israel—and inviting you to do the same, one recipe at a time.

Other Israeli Recipes in Translation Recipes

Jerusalem Haroset

Israeli-Style Savory Baked Egg Casserole in a Tagine

The title of this recipe is “Old-Fashioned Baked Cheesecake”. When I first saw it I asked myself, “Why does the author need to point out that it is baked?”

So I asked my Israeli friend and she told me its because there is another quintessentially Israeli cheesecake, a no-bake cheesecake, that kids really love. It’s made with biscuits dipped in milk and layered (much like lasagne) with a whipped cream-instant pudding mixture and topped with chocolate ganache. It seems this no-bake version is so popular that Israeli cheesecake recipes often make the point of qualifying a cheesecake recipe as baked or not. If you’d like to see a recipe for such a no-bake cheesecake, check it out here.

But now, onto the cheesecake I came here to share with you: an Old-Fashioned baked Cheesecake. I’m excited to share it here because it really is so different from the rich New York style cheesecake of, or the light French cheesecake found in Paris. I’ve been told it’s more similar to a Russian-style cheesecake, but I’ve only eaten it in Israel. It isn’t super sweet, and the cornflour makes its texture somewhere between a cheesecake and a regular cake. It’s really quite yummy- and worth trying!

The recipe comes from Dana, a clinical nutritionist who began her website “Ma’asit baMitbach” to, as she says, “Expand the way we think about health and to make it accessible to everyone.” Dana says she enjoys inventing and upgrading recipes from a nutritional and practical perspective, and her blog offers “simple and delicious recipes, new perspectives on health, useful nutritional knowledge for everyday life, and lots of practical solutions for cooking and healthy eating.”

Shavuot is coming soon, and dairy foods are traditionally eaten on this day of celebrating the receiving of the Torah. There are many reasons given for this that you can learn about here, but the simple one I like is that once the Torah was given, the Israelites were obligated to follow its laws, including those governing the preparation of meat. As the Israelites returned to the camp from Revelation, they could not eat the previously prepared meat that had not been done according to the laws of kashrut , and since butchering and cooking fresh meat was too demanding for the tired, hungry Israelites, they took the dairy food that was readily available. The majority of Kosher-keeping folks traditionally eat meat on Shabbat and festivals, and therefore a cheesecake can’t be served for dessert. So on Shavuot, people often go all-out on dairy dishes such as cheese blintzes, all kinds of fancy cheeses, and for dessert, cheesecake!

Translated from the Hebrew website “Ma’asit baMitbach” (“Practical in the Kitchen”) by Dana

Old-fashioned Israeli Cheesecake

This recipe has been in my family for over 50 years. Its story in our home began on a Shabbat afternoon when my grandparents visited a friend’s home and were served a delicious cheesecake. Over the years, the recipe has undergone many incarnations

Yet for a long time, this was a recipe I avoided as I’d developed a certain fear of it: all the fussing around with placing the pan in boiling water in the oven, changing the temperature during baking, and the strong desire for the cake to remain high once removed from the oven– it all sounded super complicated to me

In general, I prefer to make dishes with as much room for error as possible. That way, even if I get a bit spacey or busy with something else in the meantime, it’ll still work 🤩

But one day, due to a shopping mistake, I ended up with too much cheese, and as it happened, it was time to fill up the proverbial “cookie jar” in our home. After making a series of chocolate cakes, I felt like it was time for something different.

All roads led to Grandma's cheesecake.

And so, after a phone call and guidance from Grandma, I began my task. The truth is that I didn't even have all the ingredients at home, but Grandma had ideas for alternatives, and she walked me through the whole process over the phone. When I asked her if it was okay for the cake to look this way or that way, if it was a good idea to give it more or less time in the oven and why… she was there for me, and she spoke with such confidence, giving me the message: 'What possibly won't work?!' And sometimes that's all it takes – someone else to instill a sense of confidence in you.

After several successful attempts at this cake, and even different variations of it (I allowed myself to 'go wild' and vary it as I like), I was reminded yet again what is true about many things – the fear was all in my head!

If you think something is scary, it really becomes so. But if in some way you succeed in letting go of that thought even a little and experimenting with an open mind, maybe the result will be otherwise.

So I warmly invite you to try this cake, or any other recipe that for some reason you thought was 'scary' or 'too big for you'.

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Ingredients:

• 3 cups (750 grams) Quark cheese, cottage cheese, or labane (or if you can find it, 5% Israeli white cheese*)

• 2 cups sour cream, anywhere from 9-15%, the higher percentage, the richer your cake will be

• ½ cup cornstarch

• ¾ cup of sugar (if you prefer a less sweet cake, use ⅔ cup)

• 6 eggs

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Lemon zest – optional

*The biggest challenge of translating recipes is not the conversion from grams to cups or Fahrenheit to Celsius, as you might expect it to be, but rather figuring out how to offer substitutes for essential ingredients that might not exist outside of Israel. The “white cheese” this recipe calls for is a most basic kind of cheese in Israel, found in every supermarket and corner store. Read all about Israeli white cheese here. A bit of research taught me that Israelis learned the production of this cheese from the Templars, German-Protestant settlers who immigrated to Israel for religious reasons in the second half of the 19th century. The Templars were dairy farmers and introduced this cheese, which is similar to German Quark cheese. Jews living in Palestine at the time appreciated this soft, white cheese since, lacking rennet, it was naturally kosher.

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 390 °F (200 °C).

2. Boil a small pot of water. Carefully pour the boiling water into a deep baking dish, roasting pan, or glass dish large enough to accommodate your springform pan. Place this dish on the lower rack of the oven to create steam during baking.

3. Separate the eggs. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites with the sugar until stiff peaks form.

4. In a separate large bowl, mix the remaining ingredients, except for the cornflour, until the mixture is smooth and uniform.

5. Add the cornflour to the mixture and stir until fully incorporated.

6. Gently fold the whisked egg whites into the cheese mixture using a spatula. Be careful not to deflate the mixture.

7. Pour the batter into a greased 11-inch (28 cm) springform pan.

8. Bake at 390 °F (200 °C) for 20 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.

9. Reduce the oven temperature to 300 °F (150 °C) and continue baking for about 1 hour and 10 minutes.

10. To check if the cake is done, gently shake the pan. If the center is mostly firm with just a slight jiggle, it's ready. If it still seems too soft, bake for an additional 5–10 minutes and check again.

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Practical Tips:

• Use the suggested baking times as a guideline. Every oven behaves a little differently, so trust your judgment and get to know how your oven performs.

• Thanks to the low baking temperature and the steam in the oven, the cake is unlikely to burn—even if it bakes a bit longer (up to 1 hour and 40 minutes is fine).

• Allow the cake to cool completely, then refrigerate until well chilled before serving.

Enjoy!

Wishing you a meaningful Shavout.

To our health & Inspiration,

Kenden