EARL GREY BASQUE CHEESECAKE
Notes: Basque cheesecake is a lovely creation, with a deeply caramelized (“burnt”) surface and no additional crust on bottom. It’s also easy to assemble, but getting that desired super creamy and soft middle with the set, browned exterior may be a little more temperamental; bake temperature and timing are key, among other things. You might think Basque cheesecake has a long history in the Basque region of Spain, but it was actually developed at a bar named La Viña in the 1980s. It’s already a remix of a cheesecake so let’s remix it again. You may also have seen Basque cheesecake baked in a rustic, or dare I say “ugly” way by using a couple sheets of scrunched up parchment paper to completely cover the inside of a cake pan to that the delicate mixture won’t stick, but this also means the cake won’t bake completely round and will definitely crack on top. We can bake a much prettier and tastier Basque cheesecake by infusing it with lots of fragrant Earl Grey tea and using a properly setup springform pan. I went through a few rounds of fine tuning this recipe before achieving what I present here. It’s received absolutely rave reviews and this might just might make it into my all time favorite list.
As usual, ingredients where noted in grams were weighed and the cup measures are approximations. If you don’t already have one, then get yourself a good digital kitchen scale and your baking future will be much easier (and more reproducible). Here’s the one I use, which is a great balance of cost and quality: OXO Good Grips 11-Pound Stainless Steel Food Scale
Special Equipment:
10 inch springform pan.
This one is decent quality and a decent price: Hiware 10 Inch Non-stick Springform Pan with Removable Bottom/Leakproof
Large sieve
Baking tray
Electric hand mixer
Ingredients:
904 g (four 8 oz. blocks) Full-fat cream cheese, softened (room temp)
180 g (3/4 cup) Granulated sugar
180 g (1 cup) White chocolate
1 tsp salt (I used pink Himalayan, you can also use kosher)
1.5 tablespoons Vanilla bean paste
6 large eggs, room temp
15 Earl Grey tea bags
If you want to use the same brand I used it’s Equal Exchange Organic Earl Grey Tea
473 mL (1 pint) Heavy whipping cream
10 g cornstarch (dissolved in milk)
77 g (1/3 cup) whole milk
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 F.
Use a neutral oil to oil the bottom of a 10 inch springform pan and place one piece of parchment paper on top. Then fasten the ring over the paper. Oil the top of the parchment paper and thoroughly oil the inside of the ring all the way to the top.
In a medium sauce pan pour in the heavy whipping cream and add the 15 Earl Grey tea bags and simmer on medium-low heat for about 5-6 mins. When the cream comes to a soft rolling boil leave it there for about a minute. You will see the cream has started to take on a golden beige hue. Take it off the heat and let the tea bags steep in the hot cream for another 9-10 mins. The color should be a much deeper golden brown. Use tongs (or a gloved hand) to ring out the tea bags extracting all the tea infused cream.
At this point you can add the white chocolate and use the residual heat to melt and mix to smoothness with a spatula and set aside. If the tea mix has cooled too much too completely melt the chocolate then just put it back on low heat and mix until the chocolate melts, which will happen quickly.
In a large mixing bowl cream the softened cream cheese and sugar with an electric hand mixer.
Thoroughly mix the corn starch into the milk, right before adding it the cream cheese mixture and whisk to smoothness.
Then add in the vanilla bean paste and salt thoroughly mix.
Add 3 eggs and beat to smoothness, followed by the last 3 eggs and again beat to smoothness.
Now pour the cooled Earl Grey heavy cream/white chocolate mixture into the cream cheese mixture and beat one last time to smoothness.
Use a large sieve and pour the cheesecake mixture through it into your prepared springform pan. Place the pan on a baking tray and bake for 30-32 min, rotating half-way through. I highly recommend checking at 30 mins as you don’t want to overbake.
When you take the cake out of the oven it should a be a deep toasty brown on top, but the center should be very jiggly. Cool for at least 1 hour at room temp and an addtional 2-4 hrs in the fridge before unmolding the cake.
Cut into 8 slices and serve. Nothing else needed to enjoy this one.