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Lighter Austrian Apple-Quark Bake (Apfel-Topfen-Auflauf)
Recipe

Lighter Austrian Apple-Quark Bake (Apfel-Topfen-Auflauf)

Dessert • Austria

A practical oven-baked dessert that tastes like a cozy Apfelstrudel-meets-Topfenauflauf, but lighter: juicy apples folded into lemony quark, finished with a crunchy oat topping.

Why smarter

Quark adds protein and creaminess without cream; sweetness comes mostly from apples with a small amount of sugar; oats and almonds bring crunch and fiber with less flour and fat than many classic bakes.

Chef tip

For extra strudel vibes, add 1–2 tbsp rum-soaked raisins to the apple layer, and grate a little lemon zest into the quark.

Soft line

Comforting, not heavy—perfect with coffee.

Ingredients

# Ingredient Text Amount Unit Ingredient Name Notes
1 Apples (tart-sweet), peeled, cored, thinly sliced 600.000 g Apples e.g., Elstar or Braeburn
2 Lemon juice 1.000 tbsp Lemon juice
3 Ground cinnamon 1.500 tsp Cinnamon divided
4 Low-fat quark (Topfen), about 20% fat i.Tr. or lean 500.000 g Quark
5 Eggs 2.000 Eggs
6 Plain yogurt (natural), low-fat if available 150.000 g Yogurt
7 Granulated sugar 50.000 g Sugar
8 Vanilla extract or vanilla sugar 1.000 tsp Vanilla or 1 sachet vanilla sugar (~8 g)
9 All-purpose flour 20.000 g Flour about 2 tbsp
10 Baking powder 1.000 tsp Baking powder
11 Fine salt 1.000 pinch Salt
12 Rolled oats 50.000 g Rolled oats
13 Ground almonds 30.000 g Ground almonds
14 Canola oil 1.500 tbsp Canola oil for the topping
15 Milk (any), as needed 2.000 tbsp Milk to moisten topping if needed

Method

  1. Heat oven to 180°C (top/bottom heat). Lightly oil a medium baking dish (about 20×20 cm or similar).
  2. Toss sliced apples with lemon juice and 1 tsp cinnamon. Spread evenly in the baking dish.
  3. In a bowl, whisk quark, yogurt, eggs, sugar and vanilla until smooth.
  4. Stir in flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt until just combined. Spoon the quark mixture over the apples and level the top.
  5. Make topping: mix oats, ground almonds and remaining 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Drizzle in canola oil and rub with fingers until crumbly; add 1–2 tbsp milk only if it looks too dry to clump.
  6. Sprinkle topping evenly over the bake.
  7. Bake 30–35 minutes, until set in the center and golden on top. If browning too quickly, loosely cover with foil for the last 10 minutes.
  8. Rest 10 minutes before slicing. Serve warm or at room temperature.