Tarta de Queso
Burnt Cheesecake with Tart Fruits, Caramel and Maldon Flake Salt
AKA Basque-Style Cheesecake AKA Burnt Cheesecake. The dessert literally screams “I love cheesecake without the hassle of a crust and a water bath.” but with a deep taste of caramel and nuttiness from the caramelized sweet cream. Seriously, the cake does actually scream.
Servings: 6-8
INGREDIENTS:
Cream Cheese Base:
three 8-ounce packages (681g) cream cheese (Room Temp)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract or fresh vanilla bean
1 1/2 cups (297g) granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 large eggs
2 cups (200g) heavy cream
Oven Prep:
Place an oven rack in the center and preheat the oven to 500°F.
Take two sheets of 16 1/2" x 12 1/4" parchment and crumple them into a ball, separately. You’ll need enough parchment to cover roughly a 15” square.
Uncrumple the parchment completely and overlap the two sheets in a cross, pressing them into a 9” or larger springform pan to completely cover the bottom and sides of the pan. If you don’t have a springform pan, a cake pan also works perfectly fine. The paper doesn’t lie evenly with the sides, but crumpling it first will make fitting it into the pan easier.
Grab the overhanging parchment and fold down over the outside edge of the pan to ensure that the top of the cake remains visible and open to the oven’s heat.
Cake Method:
Place all the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer or bowl with whisk beaters and mix on low speed, stopping and scraping the down the sides of the bowl a few times.
Mix the batter until it’s smooth and lump-free, about 5 minutes, scraping the bowl about halfway through. If lumps are still present you can use an immersion blender, regular blender, or pass the batter through a sieve (working in batches).
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and transfer the pan to the middle rack in the oven.
Baking Method:
Bake the cheesecake for 25 to 40 minutes, until the top is a deep-dark brown, the edges are just set, and the center is still very jiggly. A digital thermometer inserted 1" from the edge and 1" down should read just under 185°F. For best results, start checking your cheesecake after the 25-minute mark, and continue to check at 1-minute intervals until the desired doneness is reached. It’s super important to remove the cheesecake from the oven at the right point during baking. (If pulled too early you’ll have cream cheese soup whereas a crust would give you some leway.)
Transfer the cheesecake from the oven to cooling a rack; cool the cake in the pan to room temperature before slicing. Unwrap the parchment and serve the cheesecake at room temperature or refrigerate and serve chilled. The cake pairs well with Scotch, Brandy and Sherry.