Basque Cheesecake

• servings: 6-8 slices
• active time: 1 hour
• total time: 12 hours

Ingredients

9 eggs

15g vanilla extract

700g heavy cream

450g sugar

8g salt

65g AP flour

1360g cream cheese

Directions

Combine ingredients: Combine eggs, cream, vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, whisk flour, salt, sugar together. Add dry ingredients into wet.

Blend with immersion blender (always completely submerged), taking care not to incorporate bubbles. Start slow and increase speed.

Add cream cheese into this mixture, and blend again until smooth. Test by blending high with head near a corner and watch for smooth eddys. Texture should be like a can of paint.

Chill batter: Set in fridge 2 hours to cool to Target temperature 40°F / 4°C, and allow for bubbles to release. (Can use ice water bath to speed up the first half of cooling.)

Set up cheesecake pan: Spray a 9” springform pan with oil, line with foil by gently scrunching foil first, then gently working into the pan corners. Use a dry towel to press/smooth against the pan. Spray again with oil.

Scrunch parchment paper into a ball (repeat as necessary), then unscrunch, and be very soft like tissue paper. Press into pan, keeping it centered with 3cm overhang on all sides. Rub paper with oiled paper towel.

Fill: Pour batter through fine sieve to remove any lumps/sediment. You can use foil+paper to extend cake height as needed: cake will rise as it bakes. Cut off the excess paper overhangs.

Swirl the batter with chopsticks to spread out any surface bubbles, tamp the tin to pop any large bubbles.

Place onto a second baking sheet, as a heat shield against the oven heat.

Bake: Bake at 420°F for 40 minutes, rotating 180° every 10 minutes, until top is moderately browned evenly and not burning.

Then bake at 300°F for ~30 minutes, rotating 90° every 10 minutes, until target internal temp of 115-125°F.

(Final target temp after carry-over heat is 150°F.)

Let cool: let it cool at room temp to 120°F, then chill in fridge for at least 8 hours. Any cracks or fissures in the top will seal as cake cools and shrinks.

Serve: Slice wedges, dipping knife in hot water between slices for clean cuts.

Notes

ChefSteps: Dreamed up by chef Santiago Rivera at La Viña in Donostia-San Sebastian, it’s a sight to behold: the iconic burnished (not burnt!) top; the oozy, custardy center; and, of course, the complete lack of a bottom crust.

This requires a two-phase bake, starting in a hot oven to brown the top, then dropping the temperature to gently raise the internal temperature of the custard. We pull the cheesecake from the oven well before it hits the target internal temp, allowing carryover cooking to take it the rest of the way.