Basque in the glory of making your own cheesecake
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It feels like the world is currently on a cheesecake bender and Canberra has more specialist cheesecake stores than ever before.
But before you make reservations or put your uber order in, have you considered making your own?
As far as “cakes” go, there are few easier tasks that assembling a cheesecake. The unbaked versions require gelatin, while the baked versions need some flour and an oven, but all things considered, they are still hard to mess up.
Of all the cheesecake permutations out there, we are here to discuss the famous burnt Basque cheesecake which is so famously served in San Sebastian, Spain.
Granted, if you haven’t seen one before, it does look a little haphazard. It is baked to the point of burning the edges and leaving a dark caramel colour on top, but the inside remains light cream and fluffy as the most delicate of cheesecake fluffs.
I have been obsessed by this cheesecake since ordering my first ever slice at La Viña in San Sebastian many years ago. It pumps out several hundred of these babies each day and sells them by the slice.
I then found Gerard Ong of Project Enoki, formerly in Verity Lane, was baking them and I waxed lyrical about them here while also order two large ones for my birthday.
If only I knew then, what I know now, and that is, this is the most quick, easy and almost foolproof of all desserts. Ever.
Thanks Charlotte for teaching us how easy this is. Also, great cookbook!
It took cookbook author Charlotte Ree and her cookbook Heartbake to convince me to give it a shot. And with permission, I share her recipe here.
She said that she started making this cheesecake for her Heartbake supper clubs—a dinner for strangers that she runs from her rooftop apartment in Sydney each month.
“I suppose as the demand for the supper clubs grew, so did the demand for the cheesecake. As we approached the publication of my book, where the cheesecake recipe was included, we reached fever pitch. It’s now been baked and shared countless times, and I have had reports of cream cheese shortages in QLD, WA and NSW!”
Nine parts dairy product and one part flour…
Ingredients:
- 1 kg cream cheese, at room temperature
- 300 g caster sugar
- 6 free range eggs, at room temperature
- 500 ml thickened cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
- 80 g plain flour. NOTE, while Charlotte uses plain flour, our household has substituted coconut flour to cater for our gluten-free friends. It’s a big call, I know, but the nutty sweetness of the coconut flour makes it even more delicious and we use coconut flour only now.
Straight out of the oven with the required amount of caramelisation on top. It will sink a little as it cools. Admittedly not the most conventional of beauties in the cheesecake pageant but hands down the winner in taste.
Directions:
- Line a 20 cm springform cake tin with baking paper. Easiest to scrunch it up and use two pieces criss-crossed to keep the cheesecake contained!
- Preheat the oven to 200°C. Beat the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking after each addition to combine. With a large spatula, scrape down the side of the bowl before adding the cream and vanilla and mixing to combine. Scrape down the side of the bowl once more, add the flour and mix to create a silky smooth batter. Pour into your tin and bake for 65–70 minutes, until you see the cheesecake’s deliciously darkened top. You will know when it is done by the sweetly burnt smell emanating from the oven. Do not be alarmed!
- Remove from the oven. The cake will still wobble as though it is undercooked, but as it cools it will harden. Leave it in the tin for 10 minutes before removing it to cool completely. Serve at room temperature, on its own.
