Basque Cheesecake

Back in October, we were seeing friends more than usual as we were going to spend the month of November in Arizona; there is always a feeling of urgency to see our peeps just before we go away for a significant period of time. For one such get-together, I finally baked a Basque Cheesecake! I say finally because it’s been on my list for years! I chose the Serious Eats recipe because it was in grams and easy to half as I only needed about half of the size. For the original recipe, please click here. This recipe makes one 23 cm (8 inch) cheese cake.

Ingredients:

• 450 g full-fat cream cheese, brought to 21°C

• 135 g and 15g sugar, divided

• 137.5 g egg (~3 whole eggs)

• 15 g egg yolk (~1 yolk)

• 115 g heavy cream

• 10 g all-purpose flour

• 5 g vanilla extract

• 1.5 g salt

• 2 g lemon zest, finely grated

Directions:

1. Prep the pan by lining it with 2 square sheets of parchment paper (see notes).
2. In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the cream cheese and 135 g of sugar and beat with the paddle attachment, scraping the sides frequently, until there are no more lumps and the sugar has dissolved (3-4 minutes).
3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for about 10 second on each addition, scraping the sides of the bowl between additions.
4. Add the remaining ingredients and beat until smooth.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared parchment-lined pan and refrigerate for 30 minutes to one hour.
6. Pre-heat the oven to 425° F with the oven rack in the middle.
7. Remove the cake pan from the refrigerator and set on a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle the remaining 15 g of sugar over the top of the pan and bake until the cheesecake is lightly browned on top.
8. Increase the temperature to 450° and bake until the top is darker brown without burning (see notes). The cheesecake will be done when centre registers between 150° F and 155° F (65.5° C to 68° C). Or when the centre only jiggles a little bit.
9. Allow the cheesecake to cool at room temperature for at least 4 hours. To remove from the pan, use the overhang of the parchment to pull the cheesecake straight out and set on an even surface, remove the parchment carefully, prying it away gently or with a small knife. Serve at room temperature or store in the fridge for no more than 3 days, covered to avoid it drying out.

This is a super-rich cheesecake that really doesn’t need any accompaniments.

Notes:

• The easiest way to line a round pan with parchment is to thoroughly wet the parchment and wring it out. Now press it into the round pan, leaving the excess to overlap the rim of the pan. Set it in a warm oven to dry out (doesn’t have to be 100% dry, just dry enough so that the batter doesn’t stick to it). Cool completely. If you have two same-sized pans, you can insert the second one into the parchment-lined pan to push the parchment into the edges.
• Your baking temperature may need to be reduced, on my first attempt, the timing in the original recipe was off because and I burnt the cheesecake. I reduced the temperatures to suit my oven.
• You really don’t need a spring-form pan to make this cake, the parchment does all the work.