Photography: John Paul Urizar. Styling: Michele Cranston. Photochef: Fran Abdallaoui.
It’s counterintuitive, but the beauty of this cake is that it’s burnt! Made with cream cheese, Greek-style yoghurt and fresh oranges, this Basque cheesecake recipe is quite simple to make and a fabulous dessert to impress.
You’ll need these…
Ingredients
Method
Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan. Cut 2 x 40cm sheets of baking paper. Grease a 24cm springform pan. Lay the sheets of baking paper slightly overlapping, extending about 3cm above the edge of the pan. Use a 22cm plate to hold down the paper while making the filling.
Using a stand mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla paste on medium-high for 5 minutes, until smooth and creamy.
Gradually add eggs; beat until smooth. Beat in sifted cornflour then the yoghurt and cream.
Strain the mixture through a coarse sieve into a bowl.
Remove plate holding down the paper; pour mixture into prepared pan and place on an oven tray. Bake for 50 minutes or until the top is dark brown and the filling is just set, with a slight wobble.
Cool in the oven with door ajar until completely cold.
Combine orange slices in a serving dish. Pour over warmed marmalade, then toss gently. Serve with cheesecake.
Basque cheesecake is not suitable to freeze or microwave.
Test Kitchen tip
What is Basque cheesecake?
Basque cheesecake has a sweet, cheesy, custardy interior with a caramelised, smoky crust. It’s a riff on the classic from the Basque region of Spain. This crustless cheesecake is all about the flavour contrast between the creamy interior and the distinctively dark exterior.
Test Kitchen baking tips
You can tell when Basque cheesecake is done when the top is dark brown and the filling has a slight wobble. It’s important to cool the cheesecake in the oven with the door ajar until completely cold so it doesn’t crack and sink.
The cheesecake is best eaten at room temperature and will need about 3 hours of cooling time. If doing a day ahead, remove from the fridge an hour before serving.
