Gooseberry Cheesecake – German Recipe (2024)

A wonderfully creamy gooseberry cheesecake, a typical German-style cake with berries and cream cheese.

We totally love this gooseberry cheesecake. And I am sure you will love it too. This good looking cake is soft, sweet yet a bit tart, creamy, and just wonderful.

This kind of traybake cheesecake is the kind of cake I usually bake for a crowd. The original recipe was created for a regular springform using only half of the ingredients.

However, I've never baked only a regular portion, it was always double. I always fill half of the cake with cherries and half of it with gooseberries.

I wouldn't make two fillings, if I was to bake only a portion of this recipe, I would stick to one sort. But when baking such a huge cake, it's worth it to have a bit of a change in the filling. It makes the cake more interesting and appealing to the people you serve it to.

Recipe ingredients

Base:

• You will need the usual ingredients like unsalted butter, all-purpose flour, sugar, and eggs.
• The only thing you will probably have to go shopping for are the sliced almonds.

Filling:

• I used homemade canned cherries for half of the cake and canned gooseberries (canned after the exact same method as the cherries).
• However, you can definitely use bought canned cherries and/or gooseberries, they will be just perfect.
• In Germany, canned fruit comes in rather large jars. They weigh 680 g/ 24 oz and will hold about 350 g/ 12.3 oz of preserved fruit, the rest is juice. Keep the juice from the can as you will need it later on in the recipe.
• After draining the cherries I will have roughly 250 ml/ 1 cup of juice. That is the amount you will need to make the pudding. If you don't have enough juice, add some water.

Gelatin:

• The cream cheese filling will for the gooseberry cheesecake needs to be stabilized with gelatin. Working with gelatin is much easier than you think, actually, it's just a matter of following the packet's instructions properly.
• One packet of sheet gelatin (in Germany) weighs 20 g/ 0.7 oz and it contains 12 sheets of gelatin, enough for 1 liter/ 33.8 fl.oz/ 4 cups liquid. You will only need 4 of these gelatin sheets. (Amazon affiliate link)
• I use Dr. Oetker vanilla pudding powder (Amazon affiliate link). A packet of it contains 37 g/ 1.3 oz pudding powder, which is basically starch with salt and vanilla aroma. You can replace it with the same amount of corn starch, a pinch of salt, and a teaspoon of pure vanilla extract added to the cooked filling.
• Use full-fat cream cheese.

Expert tips

Pans:

• You can bake this as a round cake or double the recipe and bake it on a baking tray.
• One 26 cm/ 10 inches round cake should be enough, but it is very easy to double for a bigger event.
• It's easy to transport as well. Cover it with aluminum foil or kitchen foil and place it in the back of your car.
• You will need two springforms or two baking trays and a convection/fan oven to bake this in one go. Otherwise, make and bake the batches of batter one after another.

Batter:

• Use a digital kitchen scale, it really makes a difference in baking. (Amazon affiliate link)
• I recommend making the batter in two batches if you plan to make the huge cake on baking trays. If baking the regular portion in a springform, you can make all the needed batter in one go.
• Make sure the butter is at room temperature before you begin, and remove it from the fridge several hours before baking.

Filling:

• Drain the canned berries or cherries and save the juice.
• You will need roughly 250 ml/ 1 cup of juice. If there is not enough in the jar, add water until you have the needed liquid quantity.
• If you cannot get the right sort of vanilla pudding powder, replace it with the same amount of corn starch mixed with a pinch of salt and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Gelatin:

• Read the packet's instructions.
• Squeeze the gelatin gently, and place it in a pan (large enough to hold the cream cheese mixture as well). Dissolve it on a very small flame, stirring continuously.
• Do not let it boil or get too hot, it will only take seconds until the gelatin is dissolved. Don't leave it unattended.
• Remove from heat, add one tablespoon from the cream cheese mixture and stir until fully incorporated. Add another tablespoon of the mixture and incorporate it completely again. Repeat until all the cream cheese mixture is incorporated.
• Place the pot in the fridge. Check often and when the mixture STARTS to thicken, whip the heavy cream and fold it carefully into the mixture.

Assemble the cake

• Place one of the cake bases on a round serving platter, if you make the small version of the cake. Or on the clean baking tray, if you bake the double portion.
• Place a metal ring around the cake base. If you make the cake in the springform, I always use a cake ring. (Amazon affiliate link)
• When making the cake on a baking tray use a rectangular adjustable baking frame. (Amazon affiliate link)
• When the filling is slightly cooler, pour the mixture onto the cake base. If using two fillings, pour the cherry filling on half of the cake base and the gooseberry filling on the other half. Level nicely with a spoon. Let cool completely.
• After the filling is completely cool, you can start making the cream cheese filling. Pour it onto the cherry or gooseberry filling and level nicely again.
• Place the second cake piece on top, and press down gently. Place the cheesecake with cherries or gooseberries in the fridge for several hours or overnight.

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