Serves: 6-8

Preparation:  15 minutes

Cooking Time:  50 minutes

Cooling Period:  3 hours before serving and if refrigerated, leave out for no more than 30 minutes.

Category: Vegetarian / Contains Dairy

Plan:  Can be prepared in advance, refrigerated or frozen

Difficulty:  Easy

Course: Pudding

Cuisine:  Spanish

Burnt Basque Cheesecake

I recently had this wonderful cheesecake in our local pub.

The burnt Basque cheesecake, however, has reached every corner of the globe, from the pages of the New York Times to the Cheesecake Factory menu. But it got its start in a minuscule bar in the small coastal town of San Sebastián, Spain.

The dessert originates from La Viña, a cafe in the resort town of San Sebastian in the Basque region of Spain. In 1990,

Chef Santiago Rivera embarked on an experiment to make a new type of cake every day.

Eventually, he developed the Basque cheesecake recipe.

So I had a look online to see if I could find a similar recipe and found a combination of ideas - however, having also eaten recently at a wonderful local restaurant where I discovered the magic of Tonka beans - I decided that I would substitute the Vanilla for one grated Tonka bean as the unique flavour of this extraordinary bean also incorporates not only notes of vanilla, but caramel and almond.

This cheesecake has a burned look to the top and then the creme caramel flavour has a light, creamy consistency and tastes like sheer heaven!

There is no crust layer for this cheesecake and is best eaten the day it is made, although it needs to cool for 3 hours before serving.     It still tastes great the next day, but needs to be out of the fridge for no more than 30 minutes.

We served it with Poached Mulberries, thickened with cornflour.   

The sharpness of the fruit was perfect with this rich and indulgent pudding.

This can be served with Cherry Compôte, Poached Mulberries (each thickened slightly with cornflour) or as suggested by Good Food roasted apricots in sherry sweetened with honey at 180C Fan for 15 mins or with steeped strawberries and raspberries in a little sugar and lemon juice.     

This rich and decadent cheesecake needs to be balanced with some fruit coulis or compôte.

Heaven on a plate!!!

Please see Cook's Tip below

Utensils

• One 20cm loose-bottom or springform cake tin
• 2 large sheets of baking parchment
• Large bowl or stand mixer
• Electric or hand whisk
• Spatula

Ingredients

• Butter for the tin
• 800g soft cheese
• 175g caster sugar
• 2 tablespoons plain flour
• 200g soured cream
• 4 medium eggs
• 2 teaspoons of Vanilla extract or one Tonka bean, (grated in a nutmeg grater)

Method

1. Heat the oven to 210C/200C fan/ gas 8 ensuring plenty of space above the middle shelf.
   
   
2. Butter a deep 20cm, loose-bottom or springform cake tin.
   
   
3. Lay two large sheets of baking parchment, one on top of the other, one sheet turned 45 degrees, so the corners point in different directions. Push the parchment into the tin, pressing into the corners and making sure plenty of paper is sticking out above the rim. Press the creases up the sides, but don’t worry about lining the tin too neatly – the grooves in the parchment give this cheesecake its characteristic rustic look.
   
   
4. Tip the soft cheese and sugar into a large bowl or a stand mixer. Beat together using an electric whisk (or stand mixer) for a minute or 2, until the grains of sugar have dissolved – check this by rubbing a little of the mixture between your fingertips. If it feels grainy, keep mixing for another minute or so.
   
   
5. Tip in the flour, soured cream, eggs (one by one), vanilla (or grated Tonka bean, but not both) and ¼ tsp salt to the bowl and mix again until you have a smooth consistency.
   
   
6. Pour into your lined cake tin, scraping out every last bit of cheesecake mixture. Give the tin a sharp bang on the worktop to remove any air bubbles, then bake for 50 mins.
   
   
7. Once cooked, the cheesecake should be deeply caramelised on the outside and puffed up like a soufflé. It will still have a wobble when you shake the tin. Leave it to cool completely in the tin – it will sink as it cools.    Allow to cool for three hours before serving. Will keep in the fridge for up to two days.
   
   
8. Serve with compôte of sharp fruit, such as cherries, mulberries, or roasted apricots and macerated berries, as described in the introduction above.    This is a very rich pudding and will need to have either a coulis or compôte to offset the richness of this wonderful pudding.   When making the compôte, mix a teaspoon of cornflour with a little cold water

Cook's Tip

It is easiest to grate a Tonka bean using a Nutmeg grater, which can be bought on Amazon.   Tonka beans have a very strong flavour so do not be tempted to add more than the gratings from one bean.   You can taste the mixture before adding all of it and perhaps choose not to use all of it.

Please read the forward first as there are timing issues with regard to the preparation of this wonderful pudding!