Burnt Basque cheesecake

• 30 minutes to prepare • 50 minutes to cook • 3hours to cool • Serves 12

Life is better with cheesecake (and peanut butter)

 

Burnt Basque cheesecake is not similar to American-style cheesecakes.

It wants to cook at a high temperature without the protection of a water bath. It wants to get browned and crack, to soufflé high and then deflate. It eschews a crust, instead forming its own where heat and surface area meet. In essence, all the things that make NY cheesecakes so great are the exact wrong things to do here. What does that imply? It’s virtually impossible to mess up this easy recipe.

Cream cheese is key to the rich cheesecake batter — you will need almost 1 kg of it, and don’t try swapping in low- or non-fat versions. Be sure to remove the cake from the oven while the center still jiggles; it will continue to cook and then set as it cools. In keeping with the theme of simplicity, you can make this a day in advance and refrigerate it — just leave time for it to come up to room temp before serving.

Try this Spanish-style baked cheesecake with a burnished exterior. With crème caramel-style bittersweet notes and a creamy yet light center, it's heavenly.

Here are ingredients for a 12-serving recipe (24-cm diameter baking pan):

3 eggs
170 g peanut butter
100 g sugar
10 g potato starch
30 g corn starch
900 g  cream cheese
500 ml fresh milk cream
10 g butter

1. Beat cream cheese with sugar until smooth for about 10 minutes
2. Add the eggs and go on with the mixing. Then, add the fresh cream
3. Incorporate peanut butter and whisk well
4. Scoop the sifted corn starch to the mixture. Stir gently to distribute it through the cream
5. Rub some butter onto the surface of the pan, then line parchment paper carefully
6. Pour the filling into the pastry pan and level well
7. Bake the cake at 200° for 50 minutes. (Do not open the oven for at least the first half of the baking time and perform the toothpick test at the end, to be sure baking is done)
8. Let the cake to cool down completely, then transfer it to the fridge and cool it for at least 3 hours

Nutrition Facts are detailed in the table below. Data is provided per serving.