Burnt Basque Cheesecake

Unbalanced

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Step 1

Prepare cake tin and preheat oven as per instructions here: https://www.justonecookbook.com/basque-burnt-cheesecake/

Step 2

Make sure the cream cheese is at room temperature. If not, microwave the cold cream cheese at half power (50%) for 45 seconds, or microwave at 15 seconds incremental.

Step 3

Press down the cream cheese and make it soft. Then add sugar. Combine cream cheese with sugar by rubbing the mixture with the spatula against the bowl. The cream cheese will become fluffy and smooth as the sugar granules disappear. Scrape both bowl and spatula often to ensure that nothing sticks to them and that there are no lumps.

Step 4

Crack eggs in another bowl and whisk well. Slowly and gradually add the beaten egg 3 separate times. Don’t add the egg until the batter is smooth and with no lumps. In each addition, blend it with cream cheese COMPLETELY and THOROUGHLY. Add the rest of the egg and blend well.

Step 5

Scrap off the batter from the bowl and spatula and make sure there are no lumps in the batter. Then add lemon juice and vanilla.

Step 6

Sift the cake flour and cornstarch a little bit as you stir and blend together. Then sift more and continue as you finish sifting and blending in all the flour. Take your time to do this. You don’t want any lumps.

Step 7

Add salt and blend together. Make sure at this stage (before adding heavy cream – more liquid) that there are no lumps.

Step 8

Gradually add heavy cream while you stir. Mix until it’s all combined.

Step 9

Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan in one go (avoid stop-and-go) so the air pockets don’t go in. Tap the cake pan on the countertop a few times.

Step 10

With a bamboo skewer or toothpick, pop the air bubbles if there are any, and then run the batter with it to remove any bubbles. If you’re not sure if the cheesecake may overflow, bake the cheesecake on a baking sheet, just in case.

Step 11

Transfer the cake pan to the oven and bake at 450ºF (230ºC) (or 475ºF (245ºC) if conventional oven) until the top is dark amber/brown and the center is still very jiggly, about 30-35 minutes (please keep an eye on your cheesecake because every oven is different).

Step 12

Note: Try 28mins at 230C then 2mins on max fan grill.