Whew, never thought I would ever get to write a blog post in London considering the academic side of things has kept me pretty much on my toes the past two years, at least that was pre-Covid. Alas, this year has been full of surprises and as it turns out, I don't think I've ever had this much free time in my life --which isn't a bad thing necessarily. Definitely less stressful, though I must say that if things continue at this rate, I might as well graduate with a self-taught baking diploma instead oops.
So anyway, thought to post this up here before Christmas so that any friends who can't get hold of the usual brick-block cream cheese can still make this trendy dessert in time for the Christmas holidays. For those who still don't know what I'm going on about, we are talking Basque Burnt Cheesecake here, so yes it's burnt, but definitely on purpose. More importantly, this cheesecake is unique in its textural contrast between the more firmly set New York cheesecake style borders and the barely set cheese custard centre.
I've made some minor recipe modifications from the original since I'm using spreadable cream cheese instead which is much softer than the regular blocks that I work with, but also much easier to work with and everything can be easily combined using a hand whisk. In this recipe, I used Sainsbury's Mary Ann Dairy Soft Cheese, which at 55p per 200g tub, is a great budget option and works just fine. Also used a teaspoon of Nielson Massey's Vanilla Bean Paste for a slightly vanilla speckled appearance, which I thought looked rather pretty. Regular vanilla extract works too, but I would steer clear of artificial vanilla extract unless absolutely necessary.
It's now winter in London, so the cake cools wonderfully quickly, which makes for minimal wait time for the cheesecake to set before serving. Also, because spreadable cream cheese is much softer than the regular blocks, everything combines together much more easily to form a smooth rich batter, though slightly thinner than the original but that also means less bubbly so it's a good thing, don't worry.
Here's a picture of the one I just made yesterday for my flat's Christmas dinner! I added some holly sprinkles I got from Asda and I think they add such a lovely Christmas touch to the regular old BBC.
Recipe: (for 6 inch bbc)
380g spreadable cream cheese (2×200g package with excess whey drained)
80g caster sugar
Pinch of sea salt
3 eggs (total ~155g without shell)
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
40g maple syrup
240g double cream
20g corn starch
Method:
Line a 6 inch round springform pan with parchment paper. A regular 6 inch cake pan will also work so long as it has a minimum height of about 2.5-3 inches. It might be a little more difficult to remove from the pan but if you have another pair of hands around, it won't be a problem.
Ensure that all your ingredients are at room temperature. Then preheat your oven to 240 degrees with a baking tray on the middle-upper rack to achieve a nice deeply caramelised/burnt top. Or if you are happy with a more golden top, the middle rack will suffice.
In a large mixing bowl, combine 380g cream cheese and 80g sugar. Scrape down the sides using a spatula to ensure that everything has been mixed together evenly. Try not to incorporate too much air while mixing.
Add in the eggs one at a time and combine before the next egg addition. Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl at each addition!
In a measuring cup, combine 240g whipping cream, 1 tsp vanilla bean extract and 40g maple syrup.
In a small bowl, measure out 20g corn flour. Add about half of the double cream mixture to the corn flour and stir to form a thick paste before adding the remaining double cream mixture. Stir until fully dissolved and there are no lumps. Then add this into the cheese mixture and mix till combined.
I tend to pass my batter through a sieve directly into a pre-lined cake pan just in case of corn starch lumps.
Bake for 22 minutes at 240 degrees. Then remove from oven and leave to cool at room temperature for about an hour before chucking it off into the fridge to finish setting. It will collapse slightly overall, more so in the middle, but it should not collapse too much and the final height of the cheesecake should be about 2.5 inches at the borders and about 2 inches in the middle.
Recipe notes: For serving purposes, slice the cheesecake only when completely chilled. If you are baking more than one cheesecake at a time in the oven, I found that extending the baking time by an additional one or two minutes helps the cake get to a perfect set. There is also minimal difference between baking in a light tin or dark tin so you could bake all the cakes together even if the colour of your baking tins differ from one another.
Happy baking xx
Carina
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