I Burn This Cheesecake on Purpose

If this came out of your oven, you would think it was ruined, burnt on top, cracked, sunk in the middle, but every bit was on purpose. This is a Basque cheesecake, no crust, no water bath, just a few ingredients. Hi, I'm Gemma Stafford, a professional chef from Ireland with over 20 years experience. Today I'm going to show you how to know when it's dark enough, what the perfect jiggle in the middle looks like, and how to achieve that beautiful custard center. So a Basque cheesecake was invented by Chef Santiago in Spain simply to make the easiest, simplest dessert. So what he did was he eliminated the need for a crust. So it is crustless and it is just a few ingredients, nothing fancy. The main ingredient being cream cheese because it's a cheesecake. The thing about cream cheese is that you're going to want it when you're making any cheesecake is kind of, you know, room temperature or softened. What I like to do when I'm making a cheesecake, I let it sit out at room temperature for like maybe an hour. If it is quite cold, you can pop it into the microwave for a few seconds. But if it is really, really cold from the fridge, it can end up being lumpy. So to have it a little bit softened at room temperature, it means it will blend up and it will mix really smoothly because we don't want any lumps in our mixture. So the first step is to mix up Your cream cheese. Now for my cheesecakes I like to use brick cream cheese just like this one. It comes in a pack, it's usually in a brick and that's why they call it brick cream cheese. If you use spread, spreads are whipped and they're softened, it's not ideal for cheesecake making. Into our cream cheese we are going to add in our sugar. So this is a big old cheesecake so I'm using my big mixer to mix it up. You can also use an electric hand mixer if that's what you have. With my whisk attachment, I'm going to cream these together. And the secret to do it until it's really lovely and smooth, until it is smooth and there's no lumps, we're not going to add in the rest of our ingredients. So burnt Basque cheesecakes have become really popular in the last 10 years or so and you'll see a lot of them online. I was really curious to try one so I went to John Cakes in Barcelona which I heard is the place to go to try Basque cheesecake. It was really good, it was popular, the lines were long, there was chocolate which was what I got, Kevin got like a plain one. The thing that he did differently was they put Manchego cheese in their cheesecake and I'm a lover of all desserts but I have to say it did kind of throw me but it was really Really cool to like experience to be in Spain and to like have like that classic cheesecake there so mine doesn't have any cheese cheese in it. So don't worry mine doesn't have any cheese in it, but it's going to taste really good. Let me just show you here see that get in there Joey, lovely and smooth, no lumps. The thing about it is if you leave lumps in there now they won't come out and then when it bakes you will still get those lumps. So we want it nice and smooth. So this point I'm going to add the eggs one at a time with the machine kind of on low. And let them whip up. One thing really important about your eggs is just make sure that they're at room temperature because they will combine in with the other like kind of like softened ingredients so much better. Lovely, just one at a time slowly, so your mixer doesn't crack. While the machine is still on low, we're going to add in a little bit of vanilla extract. In the original recipe for cheesecake, he kept it very simple without any flavoring. But I'm adding a little bit of extract in there just to enhance all the other flavors and to make sure it doesn't kind of taste eggy. And then a little bit of salt, because all my baking needs salt and salt is just a flavor enhancer. Beautiful. Then follow that by some heavy whipping cream and just mix in until it's well combined. Heavy whipping cream is around 36% fat. So you want to make sure that it's nice and high in fat. So it'll actually like thicken and do its job. When I delved into the world of Basque cheesecake, I didn't know it was more complex than just having like a burnt top on top of your cheesecake, which is not technically true either, even though the name is called burnt, you don't want it to be burnt, but really what it comes down to is like that beautiful golden brown top and then the custardy middle. So it's not just about the top, but also about the texture on the inside, and I'm going to show you exactly how to get that when we're baking it off and how to get that really nice dark top. It's all about timing, it's all about what to look for, and I'm going to show you that exact jiggle that you want. Okay, lovely. The last thing we're going to do is add in a little bit of flour. In baked cheesecakes, you will often see a little bit of flour used as a stabilizer to set and to thicken. Work with those eggs. For such a small amount of flour, adding it into such a big mixture and this is just a baker's tip. This is what you have to do if you bake a lot could be any recipe you're doing but with a large amount of something soft and wet and actually kind of thin. If you're adding in something of a different texture, sieve it in and then just give it a quick very gentle little mix. But by sieving it in, make sure that there's no lumps, it's nice and light and airy, and it will just very easily combine into your batter. We're not beating it in right now, Right now, we're just giving it a very gentle mix. If you're gluten free, feel free to use an all purpose gluten free flour and that will work really well. That's it. Cheesecake done. No fuss at all. That is what your batter should look like soft, creamy. A lot of us beautiful one of my favorite desserts is a cheesecake, but I have to say I do need the crust. I'm kind of all about the crust. Do you ever get a cheesecake that had a pastry crust? That's not okay. Okay, that's it ready to go. Now let's talk about the pan that we're going to bake it in your plan for baking the cheesecake. This is actually pretty important because the size of the pan. will determine how long it cooks. If you overcook it, it won't get that jiggle in the middle. If it's too big, it's too small, too thick. So I'm using a nine inch pan that's a standard cheesecake pan. If you use a 10 inch or even an eight inch, you can do that. But the thing about it is, is that it might bake a little bit longer a little bit quicker. So you're really going to have to pay attention to that jiggle that you're looking for. To prepare your pan, you're going to want to line it with parchment all the way up the sides, I did two layers of parchment, make sure it doesn't get too high. Because if we're broiling don't want this to get burned. So not too high with the parchment paper. And because it is a liquidy cheesecake, make sure to put it on a pan. Now let me tell you one of my pet peeves. This drives me crazy. When I read recipes, people say put your pie onto your pan because if it spills, then your pan will catch it. But here's the thing. If it spills on your pan, now I have a dirty pan that I have to clean. So when you're putting something I'm resting on a pan. To catch any spills or drips from a pie or whatever it is, line the cookie sheet so you don't have to clean that up either. It's very simple. So there you go. Onto that pan. Basher, here we go. Right Joey? Boopity boopity boop. Lovely. As you can see with my nine inch pan, this is really full. So it's a good size pan to do it in. And just note like kind of like a souffle, like most cheesecakes, it will rise and then it will fall. That is totally Totally natural. It's what they do. And we will be prepared for that also. Okay, lovely. Okay, so our cheesecake is ready to go. It's been pretty simple up until this point. But the next part, the baking is where we get really technical and into what is going to give us that classic burnt Basque cheesecake. So follow me. So the baking instructions for this cheesecake are the most important part of the recipe, baking in a hot oven for a shorter amount of time than a normal baked cheesecake. Once you have your oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, 200 degrees Celsius, and we're going to bake it for around 40 to 45 minutes until we see that jiggle in the middle and I'm going to show you that. While it's in the oven there, I'm just going to answer some questions because this is a recipe that not a lot of people know a lot about it and I didn't know a lot about it Until I started researching it recently. Why does bass cheesecake have a burnt looking top? So the point of this recipe was the chef wanted to create something that was really simple, made with a few ingredients, no crust and to look different but be creamy in the center and to get that you need high heat for a short amount of time. So he was going for that center but what he got on top was not technically burned but like very dark brown and caramelized so you've got this lovely contrast of flavors like caramel A little golden brown toasty On the top and then creamy in the middle, but then also that really soft custardy center. So what ended up being an experiment and somebody trying to create this really different dessert and ended up being like amazing. Next question, super important. How do I know when the center is baked properly? Now listen, this is really important. It's crucial, actually, because we're looking for a jiggle in the middle, but more than the normal recipe, almost like a runny batter underneath. I'm going to show you exactly what that looks like. Because when we achieve that, we take out the cheesecake, we let it cool down at room temperature, those eggs will continue to cook and set overnight in the fridge next day, but we're Crossing our fingers for is the perfect softly baked cheesecake on the inside with a beautiful caramel brown on top. So let me show you what that jiggle looks like. So I'm 40 minutes in, this is what we're looking for. Come here to me, Joey, get in there. Do you see how lovely and golden brown and dark it is on the outside? Look at the jiggle. Do you see that? It's not just in the center. It's actually all the way out to here. And it's starting to crack. That's what happens when you don't have a water bath. That's what makes this dessert beautiful. Let me show you that again. See all that jiggle here. This much of a jiggle means that when it comes out of the oven, it chills and it sets in the fridge. It means that it will be perfectly set the next morning. So here's what I want. I want it darker on top. So I'm going to put on the broiler. I'm going to leave it where it is for right now, and I'm going to broil that top very I'm talking 30 seconds, a minute, I'm going to stand right here. What I don't want to do is leave it in the oven to bake for longer because then my custard will bake too much. I want to just get that top darker brown, not black, brown. So stay with me. It's getting really lovely and brown. I'm gonna hold my nerve. I want it darker. Okay, Joey, look at this. See, come here. Ready? Can you see that? It's looking great. Will I chance going a bit darker? I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it. It looks darker. I'm gonna go a few seconds longer perfect still jiggling golden brown on top and jiggly in the middle. The next day when your cheesecake has set and chilled it is ready to be served. Just looking at the cheesecake, it has so much character, from the crinkles on top to the contrast of color and even just the parchment around the outside. It kind of tells its own story. Do you see how soft it is underneath my fingers when I'm pushing it down in the center? That's the next day after it's been chilled. That's how soft it should be on the inside. When you cut into your cheesecake, it should be like a hot knife through butter, really soft, really smooth. Now let's see if I did a good job. There you go. A cheesecake that is delicate and extremely creamy on the inside and dark and brown and set on top, giving you the best of both worlds, flavor and texture. Just to be extra big and bold, I love to serve it with a dollop of freshly whipped cream on top so you get that sweetness but then also the fat cutting through it. You know you will have gotten the baking just right when you bite into it and it disappears into your mouth, almost like a custardy cloud. This is without a doubt a five star dessert for minimal work. The one thing my favorite desserts all have in common is texture, light, fluffy, dissolve, disappear into your mouth. And that's exactly what this does. It is elegant. It is delicious, rustic, so simple. I really hope you enjoyed this episode. Thank you so much for watching. I'll see you back here again next week for more Bigger Bolder Baking. Now I'm going to enjoy my cheesecake.