One of the hottest trends in the world of baking nowadays is none other than the Basque burnt cheesecake.
How much do you know about this addictive, creamy, delightful piece of dessert?
Here’s what you should know about Basque burnt cheesecake:
1.Its birth place
This trendy cheesecake was born in a restaurant called La Vina in Spain’s San Sebastian.
The owner, Santiago Rivera revealed in an interview with a Catalan newspaper, La Vanguardia, that he created it after combining ideas from various cookbooks.
He invented it sometime in 1990. Since then, their ‘cream cheese cake’ (the name they call it) was ranked as one of the best cheesecakes in Spain.
This cheesecake is nothing like the others, though. First of all, it has no crust and so it literally looks like it is singed, or burnt..
For those who haven’t tried it: If you imagine the ‘burnt’ part to taste bitter, you would be pleasantly surprised. The burnt parts are actually where the cheesecake has caramelised, making these parts actually sweet.
Meanwhile, the inside of the cake is a whole other story. The texture is almost custard-like, all soft and creamy.
The light yellow shade inside is a complete contrast to the blackened outside of the cheesecake.
2.The original ingredients
Food critic Matt Preston in his book Cook Book: 187 Recipes That Will Make You Incredibly Popular wrote that Santiago gave him the recipe.
However, he admitted that he could never ‘get close to the ethereal brilliance of his original’.
Preston used 600g cream cheese, 4 large eggs, 300ml double cream, 260g sugar and 3/4 tablespoon floor.
Another alleged original recipe of La Vina’s Basque burnt cheesecake is published by San Sebastian tourism website.
The ingredients are 1kg cream cheese, 7 eggs, 400g sugar, 1 1/2 tablespoons flour and 500ml cream.
Hence, the original basic ingredients are cream cheese, eggs, sugar, heavy cream and flour.
Nowadays, there are many different recipes to make the cake. Some even use only egg yolks only and kosher salt instead of flour.
There are even different flavours of Basque burnt cheesecake such as matcha and nutella.
3.Some of the tricks in making basque burnt cheesecake
As some claimed it was one of the hardest cakes to make, there are many tips and tricks that can be found online.
The inside part of the cake is supposed to be soft and almost gooey but many of the burnt cheesecakes that are being sold out there there is too firm.
Dining magazine Food and Wine for example pointed out that you should not overmix the batter to achieve that particular texture. In addition to that, use heavy whipping cream with at least 40 per cent fat content and do resist the urge to open the oven while it is baking.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times stressed to use a food processor for the batter.
As for the cream cheese, use Philadelphia cream cheese.
And again, do not open the oven until the timer goes off. However, do remember to keep an eye on your cake.
If the top starts to turn black all over, turn the heat down because the oven is too hot. But if the top isn’t browning, turn the heat up. You can open your oven at 30 minutes.
Do not serve the cake right away or else the inside will not be set. Let it rest for at least four hours. Once refrigerated, let the cake come back to room temperature before slicing the cake.
Although this cake defiles the number one rule of baking which is ‘Do not burn!’, it does not make it any less easier to make.
Read more about another trendy dessert, the Japanese souffle pancake here:
