San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Creamy, dreamy Basque cheesecake easier to make than it looks
The delicious little secret about Basque cheesecake, one of the most impressive-looking desserts, is that it’s also one of the easiest. An internet darling of a cake, created in the 1990s by Spanish pastry chef Santiago Riviera, it features a “burnt” top and puddinglike center, and making it turns out to be so much more foolproof than baking a traditional cheesecake.
There’s no crust and no water bath. No long cooking time, no risk of cracking, no chilling. And it typically calls for only five ingredients.
To make sure you get the dessert’s unique combination — slightly bitter, almost caramelized top; rich and almost tangy filling; firmer edges and looser center — here’s what to keep in mind.
The pan setup: True Basque cheesecake is surrounded by folds of crumpled and charred parchment paper, which dramatically plays up its rustic nature, leaving the sides full of toasted-brown wrinkles. For a 9-inch springform pan, you’ll need two overlapping pieces to cover the bottom and sides. Crumple the paper in your hands before lining the pan and crease it down around the pan’s edges, as best you can, to secure it. Because of the cocoon of paper, if you don’t have a springform, you can bake the cheesecake in a deep cake pan, using the overhang to lift out the cooled cake. (Note that this may disturb the blackened, crackly top.)
The ingredients: You need eggs, sugar, full-fat cream cheese, heavy cream and a little flour (which some say is not traditional but does help the cake set). Sometimes, more egg yolks are added, as is sour cream, and sometimes, the dairy is switched up. I’ve added vanilla and salt, because I have yet to meet a recipe that did not benefit from their inclusion.
For best results, all ingredients should be at room temperature, helping you achieve a smooth batter instead of a lumpy one that can result from cold ingredients. This also speeds up the baking time.
The assembly: Although many recipes recommend using a stand mixer, a food processor makes such easy work of it. I can’t imagine doing it any other way.
Too much air whipped into the batter can result in a cake that rises and then collapses while it bakes, causing cracks. So if you use a stand mixer, you need to go slowly, methodically and at a low speed, taking time to beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl, sifting in the flour. In a food processor, all the ingredients, including the flour, can be added in just two installments and processed for as little as a minute each. And if you forget to bring your ingredients to room temperature, the processor’s blade will create a silky batter anyway. You need a 14-cup processor to handle everything, or if you have only a smaller one you can easily process the batter in two batches.
The baking: Basque cheesecake bakes at a high temperature (400 to 500 degrees) for 30 to 50 minutes. But recognizing that the middle has set just enough can be tricky. First, you need to look for the jiggle: not a little one in the very center of the cake but an entire cake jiggle (save for the 1-inch set edges). If you have a digital probe thermometer, you want 155 degrees in the center and 185 to 190 degrees an inch from the edge. If the cake is not as bronzed as you would like but otherwise seems done, a quick trip under the broiler will solve that.
The resting: To best enjoy the textural contrast, eat the cheesecake warm or at room temperature. (Chilling it firms up the soft filling, spoiling the effect.) Let the cake cool for at least 1 ½ to 2 hours.
Air frying: Air fryers specialize in producing food that browns and crisps speedily on the outside, without overcooking the inside, which makes them ideal for Basque cheesecakes. A 6-inch springform pan with 3-inch sides fits drawerstyle air fryers, and you make a smaller cake in it, with just one crumpled sheet of parchment required. It bakes in as little as 25 minutes.