Have you heard of burnt cheesecake? I hadn’t, and apparently I’ve been living under a rock until this year, because this cheesecake is all over the internet. It may have originated in Spain, but apparently the style is very popular in Japan, and on Pinterest, and Instagram, and everywhere except where I've been looking, I guess. But the pandemic has a way of really forcing us to stop and look around, and so I’ve been made aware!

The culprit was my local paper, the San Francisco Chronicle, which I almost never read, because I don’t subscribe and I can always get the breaking news on Twitter. But it was on Twitter where I saw a story tweeted out on a new, coveted cheesecake in the Bay Area, based on this style of cheesecake. At first I thought, well, I can just go buy a cheesecake! Then I realized that no, I couldn’t, because these cakes have a cult following now and limited supply, and even if I managed to move up the waitlist, did I really want a 10-inch cheesecake? Well, maybe. But certainly I don’t need one.

Luckily, the Chronicle also followed up with the recipe. The ingredient list is short, the method seemed simple, and I happen to know that my oven is pretty great at burning things! So of course I decide to make it myself. Just a lot smaller.

Let me say, I only have admiration for the man churning out these cheesecakes from his tiny kitchen, because they are pretty simple, but still tricky to execute well. Then again, maybe that’s just my oven holding me back. I’ve learned to deal with its quirks, but for a recipe like this, you do want to keep the temperature consistent throughout the bake, and you don’t want to actually burn the cheesecake until the top is carbon. It took me a couple tries to figure it out, but when I did, oh, the perfection! The first try was still edible, even if overcooked, but the second? Wow. The filling was custardy smooth, the top browned just to the edge of burnt, and the flavor was all cream, with a slight tang from the cream cheese and some umami from the burnished top.

Basque-Style Burnt Cheesecake

Adapted from Marti Buckley’s Basque Country via San Francisco Chronicle. The original recipe makes a 10-inch cheese cake, which I pared down to fit a 6-inch cake pan.

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 12 oz cream cheese (1 1/2 bricks), softened

• pinch salt

• 2 eggs, room temperature

• 2/3 cup heavy cream, room temperature

• 4 tsp flour

1. Heat your oven to 400 degrees and move rack to lowest position. Grease and line a 6-inch cake pan (3 inch tall pan) with parchment paper, leaving a 2-3 inch overhang above the sides of the pan. Pleat the paper as needed to get it to fit the pan, and fold the excess parchment back against the outside of the pan, to prevent it from burning.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the sugar and cream cheese together until very smooth. Add the salt and beat to incorporate. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then mix in the cream until you have a smooth, cohesive batter. Sift the flour on top, then gently fold with a spatula to combine.

3. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan, then bake 30-35 minutes, until it looks almost burned on top. The center should be very jiggly and the top should be puffed like a souffle.

4. Let cheesecake cool completely in the pan. To serve, gently lift out of the pan with the parchment, and pull the parchment down from the sides. Serve room temperature for the most custard-like texture.

Notes:

• Many iterations of this cheesecake call for the center to be under baked so as to be almost raw. If that’s what you want, I would pull the cheesecake out at 30 minutes. I found an extra 5 minutes gave the cheesecake a truly burnished look on top and set the center enough so that it’s still custardy, but not like a runny cheese when you slice it.

• You’ll want to use the best ingredients you can find for this, as is the general rule for recipes with minimal ingredients. The flavor of this cheesecake comes from the cream and the cream cheese, so you want them to taste good! I found good old Philadelphia cream cheese to be the best flavor. You can add in some vanilla if you really want it, but I’d say give it a try first without.