Easy burnt Basque cheesecake recipe
A classic Basque-style cheesecake is always a winner – and this version is incredibly simple to make. There’s no crust to prepare and tastes wonderful.
Tips:
- All your ingredients must be at room temperature before mixing.
- You really do need full-fat cream cheese here! Anything reduced-fat just won’t work.
- You need to allow a good three hours for the cheesecake to cool in its tin.
- It’s supposed to look rustic, so don’t panic when it sinks as it cools.
- It will make life much easier if you have a free standing mixer or electric hand whisk.
- It looks quite nice if you serve it still in its paper.
- You will need a 20cm (8 inch) springform tin and two large sheets of baking parchment.
- It's best eaten on the day it's made, but if you need to, eat any leftovers the next day having stored it in the fridge.
Ingredients
- 600 g full-fat cream cheese
- 200 g caster sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 300 ml soured cream
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- 1 pinch sea salt
Details
- Cuisine: Basque
- Recipe Type: Cheesecake
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 20 mins
- Cooking Time: 50 mins
- Serves: 8
Step-by-step
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/400°F/gas mark 6).
- Take two large sheets of baking parchment, large enough to fit crosswise in your tin, allowing a good 8cm (3.5inch) overlap. Just scrunch and push it into the tin. It’s supposed to be like this, rather than neat and lined, and the overlap will ensure you don’t have spillage as it rises in the oven.
- Put the cream cheese and sugar into the bowl of your mixer, or into a large bowl. With the whisk attachment, beat for five minutes until smooth and creamy. Now add the eggs, one by one, beating all the time until each egg has been incorporated.
- Now add the soured cream and cornflour, and whisk until everything is combined. Your mixture will be thick and creamy. Tip in the flour and salt, whisk again until combined. Using a rubber spatula, scrape all the mixture into the lined tin. Don’t worry if there’s a crease here and there. This is just how it should be.
- Put the tin onto a baking sheet and put it into the oven for exactly 50 minutes. If your oven is uneven, turn the tin halfway through baking (allowing an extra minute or two if you’ve had to open the oven).
- It will eventually begin to rise, like a soufflé. There will be the odd crack, but this is just how you want it. About 10 minutes towards the end of the cooking time, it will begin to brown considerably, as the sugar caramelises in the heat. Again, this is absolutely fine.
- After 50 minutes, take it out of the oven and carefully put it onto a cooling rack. The centre will still be very wobbly, but don’t worry. It sets as it cools, and the centre will sink a little. Leave it in the tin at room temperature for at least three hours, until fully cooled. Unclip the tin, and using the parchment paper to help you, transfer it to a flat serving plate. Fold back the paper, and slice to serve.
Image: Jiraphan Poonthanasetha/Shutterstock
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