The trendiest of all cheesecakes (for now, at least) comes from the Basque region of Spain. Despite the honorable name and the rustic look, It is actually a relatively new recipe, invented by chef Santiago Rivera of San Sebastian. Three decades later, everyone is copying it, from Israel to the USA. Myself included.

Basque burnt cheesecake

Recipe by Vered GuttmanCourse: Cakes and cookies, DessertCuisine: Spanish, BasqueDifficulty: Easy

Yields

inch cake

Prep time

minutes

Baking time

minutes

Total time

minutes

The Basque burnt cheesecake seems very simple, and the ingredient list resembles most other cheesecakes. The main difference between this cake to others is the high temperature it is baked at, and the relatively short time. At the end of the baking you will get a very tall, and very dark color cake, but it will go down a full inch within an hour, and the dark color will result a wonderful caramelized flavor. In short, don’t be alarmed by the high temperature! That’s the main trick here!

INGREDIENTS

2 lb. Cream cheese, at room temperature
1½ cups sugar
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup heavy cream, at room temperature
1 cup sour cream, at room temperature
6 large eggs, at room temperature
3 tablespoons cornstarch or all purpose flour

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 425 F (220 C) degrees on COVECTION oven. Have the rack in the center of the oven.
Grease a 10” round cake pan and line with a large piece of parchment paper. You want the paper to come 1”-2” above the pan. It will be pleated to fit the pan, and that’s ok.
Put cream cheese, sugar and salt in a bowl of a mixer fitted with the flat beater and mix on the lowest speed until combined. Add heavy cream and sour cream and mix again. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix just until combined, still on low speed. Sprinkle cornstarch slowly and evenly over the mixture and continue to mix for a few seconds until combined.
Pour cheese mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
Put the cake on a center shelf. To prevent the bottom from burning, put an empty baking sheet on a lower shelf (you can also just put the cake pan on top of a baking sheet.) Bake for 32-35 minutes on convection and up to 40 minutes on regular setting, but start checking the cake every 5 minutes after 20 minutes, and reduce the temperature if the cake is getting too dark too quickly. You want the top to be a dark golden-brown at the end. The cake will rise and its center will look too shaky, but it is fine. It will deflate and willget firmer as the it cools down.
Remove cake from oven, and cool down on a cooling rack. Keep in the fridge overnight before serving. The cake will keep in the fridge up to 5 days.