Eierschecke

thumb|Dresdner Eierschecke Eierschecke is a confectionery speciality from Saxony and Thuringia. It is a layer cake with a base layer of cake, a middle layer of quark-based cheesecake and a top layer of vanilla custard. Parts of it are covered with a glaze made of cream, whole egg, sugar and flour for thickening. The term originates from a piece of 14th century menswear called which consisted of a medium-length tunic with a very tight waistline and was worn with a Dusing, a hip belt. The cake was named after the appearance of this "tripartite garment" (upper part, belt, lower part).

==Preparation== As the name is derived from a tripartite piece of clothing, Eierschecke consists of three parts or layers: the upper layer is made of creamy stirred egg yolk with butter, sugar, vanilla pudding and, lastly, beaten egg whites, which are folded into the batter. The middle layer (the "belt") consists of a kind of custard which, in addition to butter, egg, sugar and milk, also contains quark and vanilla flavouring. The cake base is either a yeast dough or shortcrust pastry. After these three layers are assembled, the cake is baked, then cut into rectangular pieces and served with coffee. While the recipe above is for the traditional Eierschecke from Dresden, there are also some variations and refinements of this recipe, e.g. the addition of raisins, almonds or Streusel, or even the coating of the whole cake with chocolate.