A friend of mine in San Sebastian put me onto this local cheesecake. It is cooked in a hot oven, so the outside has a well-developed caramelised skin that goes from golden to brown to black - don’t be alarmed as it is all part of the act. It is so delicious that when I finished testing this version, I ended up eating nearly half of it. The chocolate crumbs are an optional extra, the cake is good with or without them. And yes, Spanish chefs do use Philadelphia cream cheese.
Ingredients
For cheesecake
400ml thickened cream
155g castor sugar
300g Philadelphia cream cheese
5 eggs
180g goat's curd
120g thick Greek-style yoghurt
zest of 2 lemons
juice of one lemon
40ml brandy
2 tbsp icing sugar
For poached rhubarb
1 cup castor sugar
1 cinnamon stick
3 strips lemon rind
1 cup orange juice
1 cup sweet wine
600g rhubarb, washed, trimmed, cut into 6cm lengths
For chocolate crumb (optional)
125g dark chocolate
150g plain flour sifted
30g cocoa, sifted
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
125g unsalted butter, softened
75g light brown sugar
50g castor sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
Method
It makes sense to cook the rhubarb and chocolate crumb first if you plan to serve all three components.
For poached rhubarb
Preheat oven to 160C. Place sugar, cinnamon, lemon rind, orange juice, wine and one cup of cold water in a saucepan over a low heat. Cook, stirring, for five minutes or until sugar has dissolved. Increase heat to high. Bring to the boil. Boil, without stirring, for two to three minutes.
Place rhubarb, in a single layer, in a baking dish. Add sugar mixture. Cover with foil. Bake for 20 minutes or until rhubarb is tender. Remove the cinnamon stick and lemon rind. Using a spatula, lift the rhubarb carefully onto a plate and chill to stop it overcooking. Put aside until ready to serve.
Tip: When cooking rhubarb, remove the outer skin which can make it stringy to eat.
For chocolate crumb
Preheat the oven to 170C.
Break the chocolate into pieces and place in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Heat, stirring occasionally, until melted.
Place the flour, cocoa, bicarb soda and salt into a large bowl and mix well.
In another bowl, cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add the melted chocolate and stir well. Beat in the vanilla extract and add the egg, then mix in the dry ingredients and work into a dough.
Place onto a lined baking tray and roll out to a thickness of one centimetre. Bake for 18 minutes, then test with a skewer to make sure it is not raw in the middle.
Leave to cool on the baking sheet for four to five minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to harden.
For cheesecake
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Grease a 20-centimetre spring-form cake tin and dust with flour.
Place all the ingredients except the icing sugar into a food processor and blend until smooth. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 45 minutes, until set in the middle.
Carefully remove the cheesecake from the oven, sprinkle the icing sugar over the top and cook for another 10 minutes.
Increase the oven temperature to 240C and bake for another five minutes, until the outside is dark, almost burnt. Remove from the oven and cool.
To serve: Break the cool, hard chocolate crumb into irregular size crumbs and sprinkle over the cake or sit the cake on a pile of crumbs. Serve the cake with the rhubarb and some cooking syrup.
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