Baking a Basque cheesecake
The burnt Basque cheesecake I keep making, with a few changes of my own along the way.
I promised a cheesecake recipe at the end of my last post, so here is the one I keep making. It is a burnt Basque cheesecake, and over a few bakes I have changed it to suit me. A bit more vanilla, a little less flour, and the eggs get whisked up before they go in. The vanilla is marked “to preference” below, because that is how I measure it.
Basque cheesecake
No crust and no water bath. Bake it hot until the top goes deep brown, and the middle stays soft and creamy.
- Serves
- 12
- Prep
- 20 min
- Bake
- 45 to 65 min
- Chill
- 8 h+
- Oven
- 220°C
Ingredients
Method
Heat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan) with a shelf in the middle.
Scrunch two sheets of baking paper and press them into a 20cm springform pan, with the overhang folded over the rim. No need to grease it.
Beat the cream cheese until smooth, then beat in the sugar.
2 minWhisk the flour into the cream until there are no lumps, then stir in the vanilla.
Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks. Add the yolks back in.
3 minTip the cream and the eggs into the cream cheese all at once, and mix until it just comes together.
Pour it into the pan and tap the pan on the counter a few times to knock out the big bubbles.
Bake until the top is a deep brown and the middle still wobbles. Keep an eye on it near the end.
45 to 65 minCool it in the pan, then chill it uncovered.
2 h + 8 h
The pan stays 20cm whatever the batch size, so a double batch needs two pans.
The wobble
When it comes out, the centre should still wobble like soft jelly. If it doesn’t, it is overbaked and will be dry. It rises a lot in the oven and sinks as it cools. The crater in the middle is normal.
Chill it uncovered, so condensation doesn’t mark the top.
Serving
Take off the ring and lift the cake out by the paper. Give it 30 minutes at room temperature if you have time, though it is good straight from the fridge too. It needs nothing on the side.
It keeps for 5 days in the fridge and tastes even better from day two. Don’t freeze it.