Cheesecake is one of the most decadent desserts you can find on a menu or in a kitchen. Sweet, slightly tangy, and packed with umami, a great cheesecake can etch its way into your memory. Unfortunately, cheesecake is notoriously difficult to get just right. For this reason there are myriad no-bake cheesecake recipes to be found in cookbooks, online, and in kitchens around the country. What if you could bake a cheesecake without any specialized equipment, without a water bath, without any special ingredients, without the need to make a crust, but the cheesecake has all of the richness you would expect. Even more, if temperatures are managed properly, you can have beautiful browning on the top while the center takes on a custard like texture that scratches an itch that even a regular cheesecake can’t match. This dessert has been called the “platonic ideal” of what a dessert should be, and with good reason. This 5-ingredient masterpiece is called Basque cheesecake.

Origins at La Viña

The story of how Basque cheesecake came into the public consciousness is somewhat different than you might expect. You can be forgiven for thinking that this confection has a history that goes back many centuries to the basque region where it became a cultural heritage that could be found in thousands of kitchens across the region. This romanticized assumption bears almost no resemblance to reality. In fact, this dessert can be traced to one city, one restaurant, and one man. Santiago Rivera, the chef who developed this recipe at La Viña in San Sebastián, has created a dish that has traveled around the world in a matter of only a few years. 

Restaurants, content creators, recipe authors, and home cooks have made a version of this recipe. Sometimes they top the tarta de queso with chocolate or candy bars. The cheesecake is so good that it needs no help standing on its own. Also, various recipes call it “burnt basque cheesecake,” which is misleading at best, and outright wrong at worst. The top of the cheesecake caramelizes; it doesn't burn. If you have burnt your basque cheesecake, something has gone wrong. The key to transforming the five-ingredient wonder into the dish that has circled the globe due to its incredible flavor and texture is simple: temperature management. 

Temperature is Key

First, the temperature needed to achieve the brown top on the cheesecake comes from a relatively high temperature bake. Ovens cook differently and have varying degrees of accuracy when it comes to matching the set temperature. The only way to be absolutely certain that your oven is achieving the correct temperature to caramelize the top of your cheesecake without burning is to monitor the temperature with a reliable probe like the Square Dot ambient temperature probe. This ensures that the results you are looking for will be the results you achieve. 

This initial stage of the cooking process is all about achieving the even browning on the top of your cheesecake. Much like with a steak, the browning process confers flavor and richness that will be missed if the process is truncated or done improperly. During internal testing, an initial temperature of 420°F with a 90 degree turn every 10 minutes for the first 30 minutes achieves even, deep browning without burning any portion of the top.  Ovens vary and radiant heat also varies from oven to oven, but an air temperature of 420°F combined with 90° rotations achieves even browning in every oven wherein this test has been performed. 

Brown Top, Custard-Like Center

The second temperature to which one is wise to pay close attention is the internal temperature of the cheesecake at its center. If you search recipes online, you will often find that no internal temperature is included. You are simply furnished with a set temperature and a time. Then you are instructed vaguely to look for a jiggle, but not too much jiggle. This ambiguity helps no one achieve repeatable results.  

In the world of cooking, as with many other endeavors, you can achieve consistency through myriad repetitions, or you can achieve consistency through precise measurement. In this case, measuring the internal temperature is the cheat code that allows you to achieve the custard-like center that sets basque cheesecake apart from both its New York and Japanese counterparts. It is here that you find another minefield of conflicting, imprecise information. As mentioned above, most recipes don’t include an internal temperature recommendation. The recipes that do include this information are, with one notable exception, wildly wrong. This could be from improper measurement technique, poor quality equipment, or worst of all, making up the number on the fly. 

As an example, one recipe that includes a target internal temperature suggests a pull temperature of 145°-155°F. Our testing has found that ideal texture is achieved when the highest measured temperature falls in this range. The problem arises, however, from the effects of carryover cooking. Due to the nature of basque cheesecake itself, the ideal result has varying textures from the edge to the center. This means the outer portion of the cheesecake is firmer, reaches a higher temperature, and has a different texture than the custard-like center. Therefore, the higher temperature exterior continues to transfer heat to the middle of the cheesecake even after it has been removed from the oven.

Precision Means Consistency

It is for that reason that we recommend a pull temperature of 120°F, +/- 5°. For a slightly firmer center, pull at 125°. For a softer center that has a larger volume of custard texture, pull at 115°. For a basque cheesecake that is firm throughout, pull at 155°F. Our recommendation is a temperature of 120° for your first attempt. This seems to be the ideal temperature for most people. To check this temperature, use Thermapen in the center of the dessert. Press the probe down further than you think it should go, then raise it slowly. Note the lowest temperature you see. This is the temperature you should use as your reading for the internal doneness. 

If you can nail these two temperatures (420° and 120°), you can achieve an incredible dessert that will impress the baking neophyte as well as the seasoned baker.  The beauty of this recipe is that it has five main ingredients, but temperature management makes it special. Like a steak, the ingredients don’t have to be complicated, but the browning on the outside matched with a perfectly done interior make this cheesecake the ultimate crowd-pleaser.