Every fortnight, The Teller Collective owner Aline Davies will share some of her favourite recipes for readers wanting to try a little restaurant magic at home. This delicious Basque Cheesecake dessert recipe is from the Food Store, which is part of The Teller Collective.
Basque Cheesecake
Ingredients:
600g cream cheese
250g yoghurt
200ml honey
100g caster sugar
2 whole eggs
30g plain flour, sifted
Vanilla cream
300ml thickened cream
3g vanilla bean paste
Alternatively, you can use 5ml vanilla essence
Honeycomb:
250g caster sugar
1g bicarb soda
Ceramic plate or lined baking tray
Cheesecake method:
- In a stand mixer place the cream cheese, yoghurt, sugar and honey and whip till combined.
- Add 1 egg at a time till incorporated.
- Remove from the mixer and add sifted flour and fold in with a spatula or whisk gently.
- Pour into a lined baking pan and bake in the oven at 180℃ for 40 mins.
- The top should look like a dark caramel and have a wobble to it.
- It should puff up to 1.5 times volume before it sinks back down.
- Allow to cool for 1 hour in the fridge so you can cut it.
- Use a warm knife and wipe the blade between slices to keep the edges clean.
- Best served with whipped vanilla cream to balance the sweetness.
Vanilla cream:
- Whip the thickened cream with the vanilla till it reaches stiff peaks. Set aside.
Honeycomb:
- In a tall saucepan, heat the caster sugar till it reaches a light caramel. This is checked by a probe thermometer at 125℃ or by visually looking at it and when it’s all an even colour of light brown
- Add the bicarb and use a whisk to incorporate. It will go creamy and start rising up.
- At this stage have a tray or ceramic plate lined with baking paper and pour out the honeycomb over it to cool.
- Allow to cool for 20 mins before touching as the bicarb raises the temperature of the sugar to over 180℃
Serving recommendations:
- We like to serve ours with whipped vanilla cream and honeycomb to accentuate the flavours.
- Fresh fruit, berries, ice-cream and even chocolate ganache work well with this dish.
Tips and tricks:
- You can use corn flour or rice flour as an alternative to make the dish gluten free.
- When using cream cheese, best practice is to cut it into smaller pieces and have at room temperature for 30 mins before you are going to make your dish.
- Always have all your ingredients weighed out before you start.
- The kind of honey you use will determine the flavour of the cheesecake, leatherwood honey or lavender honey are nice, you can also substitute all the sugar for the honey if you so desire.
- When working with sugar at high temperatures always remember to keep little hands away till it is cool to the touch and run hot water over the utensils to dissolve excess sugar left behind.