Basque Cheesecake #recipe from Molly MacRae

 

 

Look at this beautiful cheesecake. You might well ask if anyone needs to eat anything this rich. If you do ask, and ask it seriously, then consider reading the recipe just for the vicarious thrill. This cheesecake is smooth and creamy and not nearly as sweet as traditional cheesecakes. It’s also fairly easy to make. And it really is gorgeous, isn’t it?

A small slice is excellent for dessert or a treat with your afternoon tea. I made the one you see here for a group meeting. The cake did everything it was supposed to – it wowed the group, it tasted delicious without being too heavy, and it disappeared quickly, saving the four of us at home from overindulging.  

 Basque Cheesecake

(adapted from Tanya Sichynsky, in the New York Times, who adapted it from Marti Buckley)

 

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

2 1/4 pounds cream cheese at room temperature

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

5 large eggs

2 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 F with a rack in the center. Grease a 10-inch springform pan and line with parchment paper, leaving 2 or 3 inches overhanging the rim of the pan. A fun way to make the parchment conform to the pan is to first scrunch it into a tight ball. This relaxes the paper and after you've un-scrunched it, it will line your pan beautifully. Use two pieces of paper, if you need to, to completely line the pan. Grease the paper (and if you’ve used two pieces, grease between the layers so they stick and lie flat).

In large bowl, using a hand mixer (or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment), cream sugar and cream cheese until smooth. Our 46-year-old hand mixer can’t handle that kind of work, so I creamed the mixture with a wooden spoon for about 5 minutes.

Add salt and mix. Add eggs one by one, beating until fully incorporated before adding the next. (At this point I was able to use the hand mixer.) Beat in cream. Add flour and mix on low.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake until browned and almost burnt on top, 50 to 60 minutes. The center will still be jiggly. Remove cake from oven and cool completely on a rack. It will have risen dramatically in the oven and will sink as it cools.

Before serving, remove rim of springform and gently tug away parchment paper. Serve at room temperature.

 Look for Molly’s new series—the Haunted Shell Shop Mysteries—coming June 25, 2024!

Book 1: Come Shell or High Water 

When widowed folklorist Maureen Nash visits a legendary North Carolina barrier island shell shop, she discovers its resident ghost pirate and the mystery of a local’s untimely death . . .

Buy links:

IndieBound (locally owned independent bookstores near you)

Barnes & Noble

Amazon 

And in the meantime, you can enjoy Molly's other books.

 

The Boston Globe says Molly MacRae writes “murder with a dose of drollery.” She’s the author of the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries and the Highland Bookshop Mysteries. As Margaret Welch, she writes books for Annie’s Fiction and Guideposts. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and she’s a winner of the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction.

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