Burnt Basque cheesecake on the kamado, creamy inside

Prep

20 min

Cook

50 min

Servings

10 servings

Temperature

210 °C

Ingredients

• full-fat cream cheese (Philadelphia-style), at room temperature1 kg
• white sugar300 g
• large eggs, at room temperature5 ud
• double cream (35% fat)400 ml
• plain flour (a veil, sifted)30 g
• orange (fine zest, no white pith)1 ud
• orange-blossom honey (optional, to round out the bitterness)1 cda
• vanilla extract1 cdita
• fine salt (lifts the cheese and the caramel of the burn)1 pizca

Method

1. 01

   Bring everything to room temperature

   An hour ahead, take the cream cheese, eggs and cream out of the fridge. This is the invisible step that decides the texture: cold cheese will not integrate and leaves lumps no amount of beating clears, and a lumpy batter bakes unevenly. The cheese should be soft and pliable, almost a paste, before you start beating.

2. 02

   Set the deflector and stabilise 210°C

   Light the kamado, set the deflector (plate-setter) and stabilise the chamber at 210°C indirect. It takes 20-25 minutes. Do not load the cake until the thermometer holds at 210°C for 10 minutes: this cake lives on the initial heat burst, and an oven still climbing will not burn the top properly.

3. 03

   Line the tin with crumpled paper

   Use a tall 23 cm springform tin. Crumple two large sheets of baking paper, dampen them slightly and squeeze so they mould, and line the base and sides letting them stand 5-6 cm above the rim. Those creases score the crust and cradle the cake as it rises and puffs in the oven.

4. 04

   Beat the cheese, sugar and eggs

   Beat the cream cheese with the sugar and salt on medium until smooth and lump-free, 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, fully integrating each before the next. Mix in the orange zest, honey and vanilla. Do not over-beat: aerating the batter traps bubbles that puff and crack the cake.

5. 05

   Add cream and flour

   Pour in the cream in a stream, beating on low until combined. Sift the flour over the top and fold it in gently, just until it disappears: the flour is only a veil that stabilises the centre, it should not be noticeable. Pour the batter into the lined tin; it should be loose and glossy.

6. 06

   Bake 45-55 min without lifting the lid

   Place the tin on the grate over the deflector and close the kamado. Bake 45-55 minutes at 210°C without lifting the lid. It is ready when the top is dark mahogany, almost burnt, and the centre wobbles like a barely-set flan when you shake the tin. It looks raw and that is exactly the point: the centre sets as it cools.

7. 07

   Cool, then chill before slicing

   Pull the cake with gloves and let it cool in the tin at room temperature for 1 hour; it will sink a little and settle. Then refrigerate at least 3-4 hours, ideally overnight. Straight out it is too loose to slice and the flavour of the burn has not settled. Unmould using the paper itself and serve at a gentle room temperature.

About this recipe

Editor's tips

• An independent chamber probe (Inkbird) at grate height is more reliable than the dome gauge, which reads the air under the lid, not next to the tin. At 210°C, thirty degrees of drift is the difference between a mahogany burn and either a set centre or a pale top.
• The centre must wobble when you pull it, full stop. This is the mistake that ruins a Basque cake: you leave it until it sets for fear it is raw, and out comes a plain firm cheesecake. Pull it when the edges are firm and the middle jiggles; the custard sets itself as it chills.
• Smoke has no place here. The Basque cake is cheese, cream and the caramel of the burn: the kamado's clean charcoal already lends a subtle toasted backdrop. Do not add wood chunks; a cheese dessert with smoke tastes of forgotten barbecue, not complexity.

Gear for this recipe

• Big Green Egg ConvEGGtor plate setter (Large)

  €85

• Inkbird IBT-4XS Bluetooth thermometer

  €69

• Lodge Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven 2.84 L (Red)

  €78

FAQ

• Why does a Basque cheesecake have to stay liquid in the centre?+

  Because that contrast is the essence of the dessert: a burnt, bitter crust outside, a creamy, barely-set interior within. The Basque cake, born at the La Viña bar in San Sebastián, is baked hot and short precisely for this: the heat burns the surface before the centre can set. When you pull it, the centre wobbles and looks raw, but it isn't; as it chills in the fridge the egg and cream settle into a silky, custard-like texture. Bake it until the centre is firm and you have made a plain American cheesecake, not a Basque one. The wobble on pulling it is not a fault: it is the goal.

• Which cream cheese should you use and at what temperature should it be to mix?+

  Use a full-fat cream cheese like Philadelphia, not light or low-fat: the fat is what gives the creaminess and the body that holds the cake. Avoid cheap, watery spreadable tubs; they weep whey and the cake turns watery. And the rule that causes the most failures: the cheese, eggs and cream must be at room temperature, out of the fridge an hour ahead. Cold cheese will not integrate and leaves lumps that more beating will not clear; a lumpy batter bakes unevenly and streaks. The cheese should be soft and pliable, almost a paste, before you start beating it with the sugar.

• How do you get the characteristic burnt top without overdoing it?+

  The burn comes from high, enveloping heat, not from time. Stabilise the kamado at 210°C with the deflector already in and load the cake only when it is pinned; that initial heat burst is what caramelises and burns the top while the centre stays liquid. The kamado does it better than a home oven because it throws radiant heat from above and the sides at once, so the burn comes out even, not patchy. Watch through the vent or the thermometer, not by opening the lid: you want a uniform dark mahogany, almost black on the high edges of the paper, but not charcoal. If it is still pale at 45 minutes, push to 220°C for the last 5-8 minutes; the centre survives because it has not yet set.

• How long should you rest and chill the cake before slicing?+

  Two stages. First, let the cake cool in the tin at room temperature for about 1 hour: it will sink a little, settle and stop bubbling inside. Then refrigerate at least 3-4 hours, and overnight if you can, better still. Straight from the kamado the centre is too liquid to slice cleanly and the flavour of the burn has not settled; as it chills, the egg and cream set into that creamy, spoonable texture that defines the cake, and the burn shifts from harsh to toasted with a caramel backbone. Take it out of the fridge 20-30 minutes before serving so the centre turns silky again: too cold and it loses creaminess and tastes muted.

• Why does the kamado give a better burn than a conventional oven?+

  Two reasons. The first is the type of heat: the Basque cake was born in wood-fired ovens that throw heat from above and all around at once, and the kamado, with its ceramic mass, replicates that enveloping radiant heat. An electric oven leans mostly on a top element to burn the face, and that gives a patchy browning, strong in the centre and weak at the edges. The second is stability: once stabilised with the deflector, the kamado holds 210°C pinned without the swings of a domestic oven, which rises and falls every time the element fires. Even, constant heat at a high temperature is exactly what a uniform mahogany burn asks for. In exchange you lose the convenience of peering through the glass: here you trust the thermometer and not lifting the lid.