Sernik

Ingredients

• Firm curd cheese1 kg
• Flour250 g
• Butter200 g
• Sugar250 g
• Eggs6
• Potato starch50 g
• Soured cream150 ml
• Vanilla1
• Lemon zest1
• Raisins80 g
• Baking powder1 tsp
• Salt1 pinch

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Rub the flour with a hundred grams of cold butter, a spoon of sugar, a yolk and the baking powder to a crumb and bring it into a dough.

   12 min

2. 2

   Press the dough into a tin and bake it at 180 °C for fifteen minutes, to a pale gold.

   18 min

3. 3

   Pass the curd through a sieve twice; the smoothness of the filling depends entirely on it.

   15 min

4. 4

   Beat the remaining butter with the sugar until pale, add the yolks one by one, then the curd, soured cream, starch, vanilla and zest.

   15 min

5. 5

   Whip the whites with a pinch of salt to firm peaks and fold them in with a spatula in three additions.

   10 min

6. 6

   Fold in the raisins, pour the filling onto the base and level it.

   5 min

7. 7

   Bake at 160 °C for fifty-five minutes, then switch the oven off and leave the cake inside with the door ajar for an hour.

   60 min

About the dish

The curd has to be firm twaróg, passed through a sieve twice. Cream cheese gives a New York cheesecake rather than a sernik — different cakes with different textures.

The whites are whipped separately and folded in at the end. They give the lightness that keeps a sernik from setting into a curd brick.

The cake cools in the switched-off oven with the door ajar for an hour. A sudden change of temperature is the single reason the surface cracks.

Worth knowing

• — The curd has to be dry. A wet one gives a loose filling that will not set in an hour, however much starch goes in.
• — Stand the tin in a tray of water. The steam keeps the edges from drying before the centre sets.
• — A sernik is cut only when fully chilled, ideally the next day. Warm, it spreads on the plate.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

480 kcal

Protein

18 g

Fat

26 g

Carbs

44 g

More from Poland

• Pierogi ruskie — Dumplings of potato and curd cheese, served with fried onion and soured cream.
• Żurek — A sour soup on a rye starter with white sausage and egg. The sourness comes from fermentation, not vinegar.
• Bigos — Sauerkraut and fresh cabbage stewed with several meats and dried fruit over three days.