Cherry - cottage cheese cake

When I was living in Békéscsaba, in my hometown, we often went to Gyula and always turn into the Kis Kézműves Confectionery where my favorite was the cherry cottage cheese cake. We discovered it about 15 years ago when once we come round around opening hours. We looked at the offers when the still lukewarm, nicely redolent, castor sugar-sprinkled cheese cake was brough from the abck yard. Since we don't like the traditional confectionery meringue cakes (I think who grew up with home-made cakes, couldn't swallow these confectionery cakes), we swooped down on this enticing cake immediately. We got to like it soo much that we invented that we try to prepare this cake at home as well, it can't be soo difficult...we ate it soo many times that we already knew it was made with short linzer pastry, cherry and vanilla - cottage cheese cream.

After some trial the current recipe was born, thanks to mum!!

We celebrated Adrienn-day at the work on Friday, it was evident, I bake something for this occassion.  This summer unfortuntely I hadn't prepared this cake when there was fresh cherry at the markets, but even if there is no cherry-season, we can make it with preserved cherry, it doesn't take away anything from the cake's value.

I don't need to say, it run out within 5 minutes.

Ingredients:
For the pastry:
30 dkg flour
20 dkg marge or butter
10 dkg castor sugar
1 egg yolk
pinch of salt
1/2 lemon's zest

For the cottage cheese filling:
3 dl milk
1 package vanilla pudding (I always use dr. Oetker)
15-20 dkg sugar
5 dkg marge
10-20 g vanilla sugar
1 lemon's grated zest
pinch of salt
1 egg
1 tablespoon semolina

+1 bottle of preserved cherry or 70 dkg fresh cherry

How to make the pastry: Knead the pastry's ingredients quickly until you get a solid, easily rollable pastry.  Crumble the flour with the marge, add the castor sugar, the egg yolk, the lemon zest and the salt and knead it till the pastry is nice and springy. Shape the pastry to a round loaf, cover with a kitchen towel and put in the fridge for an hour but at least for 30 minutes.

Prepare a 26-28 cm round and 2cm deep pie plate, oil properly in order the pastry not to get stuck in it. Take the pastry out from the fridge, roll on floured surface and put in a pie plate. Sprinkle a handful of semolina on the pastry, pile the cherry and prepare the below cream.

How to make the cream: Mix the pudding with the sugar then pouring the milk constantly, whisk to get a lump-free mixture. Cook a very thick cream above medium-heat, stirring it constantly, then set aside and let it cool. When it's lukewarm, addmix 5 dkg butter.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

While the ready-pudding cools, in a big bowl mix the cottage cheese with the vanilla sugar, lemon zest, salt, 1 egg yolk and semolina. Addmix the cool pudding. In another bowl whisk the egg white with a hand mixer (if you have some extra 1-2 egg whites - for instance the one which is left since making the pastry -  add also to it, so the cream will be lighter) then carefully addmix to the cottage cheese - pudding cream.

Pour this cream on the cherry then in the preheated oven bake the cake until you can see, the cottage cheese is baked and the top is light brown.

Sprinkle some castor sugar on it before serving.