Baking

Basque Cheesecake

Posted by miaisieie on

I had ‘Make a Basque Cheesecake!’ written on the to-do list for the date of my birthday for several months. The idea was inspired by the baking of my Spanish flatmate, Marta, last year who made one for a friend’s birthday in Trondheim. Was also a great excuse to pull out my 1970’s Kenwood Chef (inherited – Mum finally upgraded. Still works a treat but is hella noisy).

If you don’t like cheesecake, but your experience of cheesecake is those terrible biscuit-base, overly-sweet, fruit-and-jelly-covered things from the supermarket, then you really need to try a baked cheesecake, and be prepared to discover your new favourite dessert. It’s just something else. Plus it’s really easy to make, especially with an electric mixer, but definitely also doable by-hand.

Ingredients

  • 340g cream cheese
  • 100g granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla or 1 vanilla pod
  • 2 small eggs
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 300ml heavy cream
  • 25g all purpose flour
  • tsp butter (for greasing)

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 210 degree celsius.
  2. Use butter to grease the cake tin and cut a large piece of baking parchment to fit the tin plus excess (the butter allows the parchment to stick to the sides of the tin, and the excess is so you can easy remove the cake by lifting it straight out).
  3. Add the cream cheese to the mixer and beat with the mixing (not whisking) attachment until it is light and fluffy – shouldn’t take more than a minute or so depending on the type of cream cheese.
  4. Add the sugar, salt and vanilla to the cream cheese and continue to beat until well incorporated.
  5. Add one egg at a time to the mixture and beat until it is fully combined before adding the next.
  6. Add the salt
  7. If your mixer (like mine) tends to leave un-mixed mixture on the sides, stop it at this point and scape the bowl with a spoon to make sure everything is incorporated.
  8. Pour in the cream while the mixer is running until combined
  9. Finish by sifting the flour into the bowl then mix just to combine (maybe by hand at the last stage to avoid over-working and potentially splitting).
  1. Pour or spoon the cheesecake mixture into the cake tin and smooth over the top.
  2. Give the tin a couple of bangs on the side top to make sure there are no air holes.
  3. Place in the oven for around 45 minutes, or until the top is dark golden brown. It should rise and puff up a lot!
  1. Wait 1 hour for it to cool inside the tin. The beautiful rise should collapse and the cheesecake will firm up as it cools – so important not to remove from the tin right away.
  2. After at least an hour, carefully remove from the tin by pulling it straight upwards using the baking parchment. You can also release the spring release to help if you used one. Transfer to a cooling rack and leave to cool for a further hour.
  3. The recipe I consulted said to serve and store at room temperature, but I think it’s much nicer chilled in the fridge – and keeps for much longer!

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