Apparently this cake had a huge moment a couple of years ago, but I completely missed it. I’d never heard of “Basque cheesecake” until my last trip to Miami, when Ben and I had a slice at Leku restaurant at the Rubell Museum. I don’t consider myself a cheesecake person, but this was incredible; baked to the point of superficial caramelization with the very center left the texture of melting ice cream.
Internet research reveals that the cake originated at La Viña restaurant in San Sebastián, on the northern coast of Spain (Basque country), in the 1990s. I found what is supposedly the restaurant’s own recipe, and my only adaptations were to add Meyer lemon zest and vanilla extract (both optional, but I think worthy.)
BASQUE CHEESECAKE:
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