Basque Cheesecake
This cake has intrigued me but I hadn't had the opportunity to make it until this week. This cake is very easy to make and very tasty. It is a convenient dessert because you bake it the day before you serve it. I regret that I didn't take a picture of it because it is very unusual looking. It looks like you have burned it because the top is so black when it is finished baking. Never fear, it doesn't taste burned. I looked at many recipes and all of them varied. One called for 12 egg yolks and no whole eggs. Most called for 5 whole eggs, some 6, some 5 eggs and a yolk. Most called for heavy cream rather than crème fraîche. Most called for 32 ounces of cream cheese but one called for 40 ounces. The amount of sugar varied. The oven temp ranged from 400º to 500º with varying cooking times. All said they produced delicious cakes. The recipes left me confused and so I made the decision to do what I did and hope for the best. The cake was delicious and so I think what you do can be very loose. Don't stress on amounts. One recipe added lemon zest. The original recipe from La Viña in San Sebastian in Spain used no flavoring and so you can use vanilla or lemon zest or nothing. I think the lemon zest would be a good idea if you us heavy cream. Do that according to your own taste. One chef has used blue cheese which would be delicious. The crème fraîche is used rather than heavy cream for tang. Most recipes don't use flour but some say there can be weeping if you don't. I skipped the flour and had no weeping. This is definitely a recipe you can play with. I chose the lower temperature of 400º F because baking the cake at 450º F to 500º F made me nervous. Depending on your oven, you might need to raise the temperature at the end of baking if you bake at 400º F to get the blackened look. The cake must be dark brown. I found this article in The Guardian helpful when deciding what to do: https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/dec/01/how-to-make-the-perfect-basque-cheesecake-recipe-felicity-cloake
Ingredients:
32 ounces of Philadelphia brand cream cheese at room temperature
5 whole eggs at room temperature
1 egg yolk at room temperature
1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cup sugar depending on your preferred sweetness
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups creme fraîche at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
(1/4 cup AP flour, optional)
Instructions: Preheat your oven to 400ºF. Grease a 9" springform pan. If you don't have a 9" springform pan you can use a 10" pan. Cut two 15" square pieces of baking parchment paper, grease them and place them in the pan. This will actually involve crushing the paper at the sides They will hang out over the edge of the pan of course and you will need to place them 90º of each other. Place the cream cheese, eggs and egg yolk, sugar, salt, and vanilla in a food processor. Process until smooth. Add crème fraîche and if using flour sift it on top. Process again until fully incorporated. Process only a short time. You shouldn't over mix. If you don't have a processor you can use an electric mixer or mix by hand. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and tap on the counter to get ride of bubbles. Refrigerate for an hour. Bake for 50 minutes on a baking sheet, until browned and almost burned looking on top. Watch it carefully so that it doesn't actually burn. The center should be quite jiggly. It will set as the cake cools. Now is another time the recipes varied. What I did was refrigerate the cake when it cooled, uncovered, until the next day. I took it out of the refrigerator about an hour before serving. Use the paper to remove the cake from the pan. Some recipes recommend serving the same day you bake but it was great the next day. It is recommend to serve it with fine sherry. We didn't have any sherry and served it with port, which was delicious.
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