How to make city-famous Basque cheesecake at home
In another timeline, Rosie Cannonball wouldn’t be serving Basque cheesecake. Instead, the recipe might have found its place on the menu at a different restaurant: the three-Michelin-star Quince in San Francisco.
The Basque cheesecake was made popular by La Viña, a cafe in Spain’s Basque Country, according to Taste.
When I had it a few months ago at the modern European restaurant in Montrose, it was the highlight of the meal: A small cheesecake with a burnt top and a fluffy yet custard-y interior. Apart from Rosie, the dish has been popularized and you can find it in a bunch of places, including at Cheesecake Factory.
Shawn Gawle, Rosie’s executive pastry chef, has been holding onto the recipe for some time. Before he came to Houston, he worked for Michael Tusk at Quince and its sister restaurant Cotogna.
According to Gawle, Tusk took a trip to San Sebastián, Spain, and went to La Viña and had its famous cheesecake.
“He was blown away,” Gawle said. “He came back with a handwritten note from someone who worked there. Kind of chicken scratch. but it was one liter of cream, queso fresco and a scant tap of flour.”
Tusk encouraged Gawle to try it out, but he said he couldn’t see where it made sense on Quince’s or Cotogna’s menus.
But Gawle kept the handwritten recipe, even after he left to join Goodnight Hospitality in Houston a few years later.
During his interview, he made two versions of La Viña’s cheesecake: one warm and one cold. His employers loved it, he was hired, and subsequently added the cake to Rosie’s menu.
“When Tusk came back, not many people were doing it 2015-2016. I should have done it then and took credit for bringing it to America,” Gawle said, laughing. “It’s picking up more steam and has been on on our menu since we opened.”
When last we spoke, Gawle had plans to make the cheesecake gluten-free. He had already tested a version of it with cornstarch and could confidently say people will very likely not know the difference.