Sernik Wiedenski

I am making this tomorrow, and i need to use 1kg cream cheese.
Twaróg is what i should use, but none of the Polish shops i've tried have it in the form used for making cheesecake.

Anyone know what i can use instead? Philadelphia cream cheese has been suggested, but it contains salt, and a kg of it might mean my Sernik tastes horrible.

Also, this recipe uses Mąka Tortowej. I know it's flour for making cakes, but as the recipe uses baking powder as well, i am presuming this is not self-raising flour. Can i just use plain flour? I've used plain flour in other Polish cake recipes, but usually add baking powder and bicarbonate of soda as well.

Can anyone help?

Use full-cream (pelnotlusty) twarog and either mince it fine in a mincer (manual ro electric) or sieve it. Philadelphia will make it taste like an American cheesecake, not a classic sernik.

If your polish shop doesn't have "twaróg sernikowy" you could use twaróg en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_(cheese) as Polonius said. I would say it is a more traditional approach.

Also "mąka tortowa" is a type of flour, it contains only - flour type 450, nothing else. We don't have self-raising flour in Poland.

I'd add to your cheesecake "serek homogenizowany" with vanilla flavour. It makes the dough moist and delicate.

Too moist for my taste
Pam, it depends on your preferations.If you use "Twaróg" your cheesecake will be dryer.If you use "Twaróg sernikowy"(usually in buckets) it's going to be semi-moist.

Thanks for everyone's replies

Twaróg sernikowy is what i can't get hold of. The Polish shops here don't often stock it, only Twaróg used for salads, sandwiches etc.

I have an electric hand whisk/blender, but not sure if this will get it to the consistency i need.


Haven't seen this in the Polish shops either, but my sernik will taste of vanilla because i'm using vanilla sugar in it


I think it must be the equivalent of plain flour, but i thought this was called Mąka Pszenna? I didn't think Poland had self raising flour, because every cake recipe i've seen always has baking powder and/or soda in it. Do you know what the difference is between Mąka pszenna and Tortowa? Only asking because i already have plain flour in the cupboard.


Unfortunately, don't have a mincer, and sieving 1kg of cheese will take .........forever i would think!

Never actually made a baked cheesecake before!

Pam, plain twaróg, the kind used for sandwiches, is best. You can use the electric blender, just try not to overdo it, blend it until it's smooth.Twaróg sernikowy, the stuff in the plastic buckets, is hit or miss, depending on the producer. Some of them have additives that change the texture and taste of the cheesecake, some are too watery, etc. Piątnica is good, if you can get hold of that. If not, plain twaróg is your best bet. Just taste it beforehand and if it's too sour, add more sugar. Oh, and if you can choose from twaróg chudy, półtłusty and tłusty, take półtłusty or tłusty - it contains more fat but your cake won't be crumbling.


Pszenna means wheat, so tortowa is pszenna too. The difference between the different kinds of wheat flour is the degree of purification. The lower the number, the more purified the flour is. It ranges from 400 (the whitest, lightest, most purified type) to 1850 I think (wholemeal). Tortowa is 450 so it's used for cakes which need to be raised. Plain all purpose flour is 500 or 550. 600 is for kluski and pierogi, 750 is the bread type. Plain flour should be ok.

...anyway, what do you need flour for? Sernik wiedeński is just cheese without the pastry bottom, unless you recipe differs somehow from the ones I know.

BTW, how was your trip to Gdańsk? :)

Aha, now i understand! Polish flour is graded as to how refined it is. Thanks for that information, good to know the difference at last!

This sernik recipe is my friend's, it doesn't have a pastry bottom. I tried a lot of sernik in Gdańsk, but my favourite was something like this. I can't actually remember what it was called,it just looked to be a traditional cheesecake. My friend thought it was Sernik Wiedeński, so i am going to give it a try.

This recipe contains icing sugar ( cukier puder ), margarine, eggs,small amounts of cake and potato flour, baking powder and vanilla sugar, and Twaróg.
Strzga, if you have a tried and trusted classic cheesecake recipe, you could always share it with me:):) Consider it your duty as a Polish citizen!


I had a lovely time in Gdańsk! Got to do almost everything i wanted, but gutted Central Maritime Museum was closed. Didn't have time to go to Gdynia, but did get to Malbork, Sopot, Oliwa Cathedral and park, Pachołek Hill.

Am thinking of visiting Poznan next. If you've been, can you PM me? Don't want to derail my Sernik thread! Thanks.

Is your cake ready now, Pam? And is it as good as it was supposed to be? :)


Yes, that's wiedeński all right. In some recipes there's butter instead of margarine and no wheat flour at all, just potato starch. And you can mix the cheese with raisins, orange peel and other goodies too. Because there's no pastry bottom, the cheese must be quite firm so you can't go wrong with plain twaróg. All traditional Polish cheesecakes were originally made from twaróg, long before processed cheese, homogenized cheese, bucket cheese and other such inventions. Soft, moist, Western-style cheesecakes are another story, even Philadelphia works with them.


As a Polish citizen I love the New York style cheesecake ;) But here goes. This is my mum's recipe for cheesecake with peaches, my favourite:

Pastry bottom:
3 cups of flour
250 gram butter or margarine (cold)
0.75 cup icing sugar
6 egg yolks (you'll need the whites later)
2 teaspoons baking powder

Mix the butter with flour (you can use a sharp knife), add yolks, sugar and baking powder, knead quickly and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Cheese:
1 kg twaróg, blended
250 g butter or margarine
1 cup icing sugar
2 eggs, whole
70 g potato starch (potato flour)
- mix or blend all the ingredients

Other ingredients:
6 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1-2 cans of peaches in syrup, drained

Spread 2/3 of the dough over the bottom of the baking pan, cover with cheese, even out and put peach halves on top of the cheese. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then add 0.5 cup of sugar and whisk some more (add sugar slowly so the whites remain stiff). Spread the whisked whites evenly over the cheese and peaches. Grate the remaining 1/3 of the dough over everything. Bake for about 1 hour at 180 C.

Also, you should try the most traditional one, sernik krakowski:
mojewypieki.com/przepis/sernik-krakowski
a tried and trusted site, you can't go wrong with any of the recipes.


ok :)

My sernik is delicious Strzga, made it this afternoon, and i've already eaten loads of it! Really simple to make.
Thanks for your mum's cheesecake recipe, that will be next on my list to try. If it turns out well, i will make it for Wigilia. It will be nice to surprise my friends with a Polish dessert they haven't actually given me the recipe for.

I have tried Sernik Krakowski, and yes it's delicious. I think i will be very busy looking at this site.......and doing lots of cooking!

mojeciasto.pl/sernik/sernik-wiedenski-2973.html
Just to illustrate all what is above.
Pretaste (how to say "przedsmak", by the way?) of Christmas.

Thanks Noreenb, now i have 2 good sites for cakes!
Have just seen a cake called Knoppers on this site. Never heard of it before, but i am going to have to make it. It looks delicious.

Strange name though....

it is a phenomen like snickers cake. a cake that is supposed to taste like knopprrs cookie

Never heard of these cookies either!

Its German, not a cookie though: