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An extremely decadent chocolate cheesecake with a set top and a fudgy creamy middle. With a rich chocolate flavour, this basque cheesecake is the perfect dessert for the chocolate addicts!

What’s a Basque Cheesecake?

A basque cheesecake, also known as a burnt cheesecake, is a traditionally Spanish cheesecake that is cooked at a high temperature so the outside of the cake burns or gets toasted while the inside stays jiggly. The high temperature short cooking time method gives the outside a caramel almost bitter like exterior and an extremely creamy and light centre. This cake originated in the North of Spain 80s and became really popular in the 2000s when a lot of tourists started doing tapas/pintxos tours and discovered this wonderful dessert.

So, what’s in it?

The beauty of this cheesecake is not only the fact that you have to intentionally burn it, I mean, who doesn’t like that?! But it also requires very little ingredients and it’s super quick to make. All you’ll need is:

• Cream cheese
• Double cream
• Sugar
• Vanilla extract
• Eggs
• Cocoa powder
• Dark chocolate
• Flour

A few tips for success

1. Make sure your cream cheese is at room temperature – cold cream cheese can make things lumpy, so it’s best to take it out of the fridge an hour before it’ll be used.
2. Sieve your flour and cocoa powder – I know it’s not a lot of flour, but believe me, if you don’t do it it will be lumpy and it will force you to over mix.
3. Use good quality chocolate – this is super important not only for the taste of the cheesecake, but also to get that creamy consistency in the middle. Over 70% cocoa content is the best.
4. Allow cooling time – cooling time is almost as important at cooking time. The cheesecake won’t be set when you take it out of the oven, so you need to give it time for that to happen. When my cheesecake was done, I left it in the oven with the door slightly open for 15 minutes, then, I allowed it to come to room temperature and cooled it in the fridge for 2 hours before demolding.
5. Undercook – this is possible the most important thing. Basque Cheesecakes don’t set in the oven, they set afterwards, so it will be super giggly when you take it out. Don’t worry, it will set as it cools down.
6. Use a deep baking tin – this is also very important as the cake rises quite a lot in the oven, if your tin is not deep enough, your cake may spill all over your oven.

Chocolate Basque Cheesecake

Ingredients:

• 600 gr of cream cheese at room temperature
• 300 gr of double (whipping) cream
• 215 gr of granulated sugar
• 150 gr of dark chocolate
• 4 medium eggs
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1 tsp of cocoa powder
• 40 gr of flour

Method:

1. Preheat the oven at 200 degrees celsius.
2. Start by melting the chocolate. You can do that either on the microwave or using a double boiler putting a bowl over simmering water (don’t allow the water to touch the bowl). Allow it to cool down for 10 minutes, the chocolate shouldn’t be hot.
3. In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to beat the cream cheese until soft.
4. Add in the double cream and mix again. Then, slowly add the granulated sugar while mixing. Keep mixing until it acquires a creamy thick consistency.
5. Add in the eggs, mixing one at a time until all of them are in. Then, fold in the melted chocolate and vanilla extract and mix again.
6. Sieve the flour and cocoa powder and fold it into the mix. Do not skip the sieving as otherwise the flour may be lumpy which will cause you to overmix.
7. Pour the batter into a deep 22 cm baking dish with a removable bottom lined with parchment paper. The cake rises a lot in the oven, so make sure the parchment paper sits taller than the baking dish to prevent the cheesecake from spilling over.
8. Cook in the preheated oven for 45-50 minutes. By the time is done, the outside of the cheesecake should be toasted and the middle should be giggly.
9. Open the oven door slightly and allow the cheesecake to slowly cool down in the oven for 15 minutes, then take it out and allow it to come down to room temperature while still in the baking dish. Once it’s come down to room temperature, place it in the fridge for at least 3 hours, but preferably overnight. The longer it’s in the fridge the more the flavours will set. It is important that you leave it in the baking dish for as long as possible, if you unmold it before the cheesecake sets, it may break.
10. Take it out of the fridge 30 minutes before eating so it comes to room temperature. This cheesecake is very nice on its own and also with some whipped cream.