Cheesecake is the ultimate decadent dairy dessert, and it has a special place in the heart of any Jewish baker. It is traditionally eaten on the festival of Shavuot, when it’s customary to serve dairy meals. We don’t need any other excuse!

 

Everyone says their cheesecake recipe is the best, but this one really is special. Just give it a try and you’ll see what I mean. This is my favourite type of cheesecake – the Basque Cheesecake and the recipe below is care of norecipes.com

I have made it a few times and found that you need to adapt it to the quantity / dish / oven / cooking temperature because you want that beautiful burnt colour on top and a great wobble in the middle. I think my best version was double quantity of cake mixture in a taller but narrower dish, at a slightly higher temperature for a slightly shorter time….. Just play, all versions will be delicious so enjoy the process of perfecting yours!

 

INGREDIENTS

  • 226g cream cheese (cold)
  • 1 cup thickened cream (cold)
  • 100g caster sugar (or sweetener of choice)
  • 2 large eggs (cold)
  • 15g cake flour (make your own – 1/4 corn flour, 3/4 plain flour)
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

METHOD

  1. Preheat the oven to the 450 degrees F* (230 C). See the section above in the headnotes about how long to bake it.
  2. Line a 6-inch cake pan with 2.5-inch sides with baking paper.
  3. Add all of the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. I usually let this mixture rest for about 20 minutes to give the air bubbles in the batter a chance to settle, but you can bake it right away if you’re in a rush.
  4. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake pan and then drop the pan a few times onto a kitchen towel to coax any remaining bubbles out of the batter.
  5. Bake the cheesecake until the top is just shy of turning black. This takes 22 minutes in my oven. The cake should still be very jiggly in the center when you remove it from the oven.
  6. Let the cheesecake cool on a cooling rack and then place it in a sealable bag and refrigerate overnight. If you are in a hurry, you can serve it once cooled, without refrigerating.
  7. To slice the Basque Cheesecake, prepare a long sharp knife along with a pot of boiling water. Clean and heat the knife with the hot water after each slice. This ensures you get nice clean slices.

Hope you enjoy! Happy baking.

Rimma.