Margot Luke

Margot Luke is a lecturer in German at the University of WA.

Margot was first recommended to us by Arts Access and held her first workshop in the Function Room on a very wet, stormy day in May 1984. Gena Nissen and Margaret Maas provided a genuine German luncheon and Margot led a fascinating discussion on the Heinrich Boll novel, “the Bread of Those Early Years”.

Margot had done a considerable amount of writing herself, is a theatre critic, was a judge for the year’s WA Week Literary Awards and is one of the writers used to compile the Travelling Notebooks used by Arts Access for Book Club members. She is due to make her second visit to Boddington in November 1986.

Margot writes:

I have always loved cheesecake and at some stage, I can’t remember how old I wad, it became my personal birthday cake. Then came the war, and austerity years, and several migrations.

For years I tried to find one that tasted just right, exploring cake shops and cafes from Melbourne to Vienna. Then, quite by chance, I mentioned it to a friend who kept up German cooking traditions since she came to Australia nearly 25 years ago, and she achieved the miracle. It looked and tasted exactly right. The only Trouble is , it is so rich that it will have to keep its place as a birthday cake, just once a year.

Here is the recipe.

The Perfect Cheesecake

Ingredients

1 container (500 g) Quark (Ricotta will do, but will need an extra lemon)

70 g butter

200 g sugar

2 eggs

70 g sultanas

2 tablespoons custard powder

1 tablespoon semolina

1 teaspoon baking powder

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

Method

Combine all ingredients to a smooth dough. Bake in a greased and floured springform tin, 1 hour on medium heat.

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