Basque-Style Burnt Chocolate Cheesecake

This famous Spanish-style cheesecake from La Viña, San Sebastian has taken the world by storm. Here's what happened when it met chocolate.

Basque burnt cheesecake has been around since the 1980’s, served at the ‘La Viña’ restaurant in San Sebastian. It gained notoriety with the increasing number of food tours in the city. These cheesecakes were, and still are, left on the countertop in full view of customers, cooling in their baking tins after a blast in a hot oven. The smell and distinctive, charred appearance is very hard to ignore. Now you’ll find many copycat versions of various flavours all over the world. The essential formula for Basque cheesecake is actually very simple and it doesn’t require a lot of ingredients. The important factor though is the ratio of those ingredients, and I have the X-Factor recipe for you. This is an adaptation of my regular vanilla version and I have to say I prefer this flavour. Sometimes with a vanilla Basque cheesecake I yearn for some sort of crust, but the chocolate one stands alone far better, the insides taking on a silky, smooth chocolate mousse texture that begs for your spoon. Let’s go!