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Baked goods

Quark and poppy seed cake with butter crust

Name: Quark and poppy seed cake with butter crust
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 1 pan
Cuisine: Slovak
Ingredients: 100 g Butter; 3 Eggs; 500 g Quark (farmer's cheese); 2 tbsp Cornstarch; 200 g Sugar; 1 tsp Baking powder; 200 g Semi-coarse wheat flour; 150 g Ground poppy seeds; 1 packet Vanilla sugar (20 g)

A butter-crust cake with alternating layers of plain quark and poppy seed filling. Baked at 180°C for one hour; makes one pan.

Slovak cuisine · Translated from Slovak · October 24, 2026

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Recipe at a glance

Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 hr
Total time: 1 hr 30 min
Temperature: 180 °C (350 °F)
Servings: 1 pan
Difficulty: Easy

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This simple quark and poppy seed cake has a tender butter crust and two quark fillings—one plain and one with poppy seeds. Quark is a fresh cheese similar to farmer's cheese. Ladle the fillings alternately into the center of the pan to create rings when sliced, much like a zebra cake. Soak the poppy seeds in boiling water beforehand, then bake the cake for one hour at 180°C (350°F). Serve it with coffee or as a weekend dessert.

Ingredients

Butter 100 g
Eggs 3
Quark (farmer's cheese) 500 g
Cornstarch 2 tbsp
Sugar 200 g
Baking powder 1 tsp
Semi-coarse wheat flour 200 g
Ground poppy seeds 150 g
Vanilla sugar (20 g) 1 packet

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Instructions

Tip: tap a step to mark it as done.

For the crust, beat 1 egg with 50 g sugar, then add the melted butter.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour with the baking powder, then add it to the egg mixture. Work into a dough and place in a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Press it evenly over the bottom and up the sides. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Pour boiling water over the poppy seeds and drain after 20 minutes.
Press the quark through a sieve or blend until smooth, then add the cornstarch, remaining sugar, and eggs. Mix everything together and divide into two portions, making one about 120–150 g larger than the other.
Stir the poppy seeds into the smaller portion. If the quark mixture is too thick, thin it with a little cream.
Remove the chilled crust from the refrigerator. Alternately ladle the poppy seed and plain quark fillings into the center of the crust. Finally, gently shake the pan to level the filling.
Tip: For a more decorative pattern, use a wooden spoon to draw lines from the edges toward the center.
Bake in an oven preheated to 180°C (350°F) for 1 hour. Let the baked cake cool before removing it from the pan.

Tip: Drain the soaked poppy seeds through a fine-mesh sieve or cheesecloth and let them drain thoroughly. Excess water would thin the poppy seed filling and blur the rings when the cake is sliced.

Nutrition facts

Approximate values per 100 g, calculated from the ingredients

Energy: 292 kcal
Protein: 10 g
Carbohydrates: 34 g
of which sugars: 18 g
Fat: 14 g
of which saturates: 5.8 g
Fiber: 2.6 g
Salt: 0.2 g

Calculated from the raw ingredients, without frying oil. Where an amount is “to taste”, typical amounts are used. Food composition: USDA FoodData Central and product labels.

This recipe was translated from the Slovak original: Jednoduchý tvarohový koláč s makom