Move over New York cheesecake. The popular, in-demand, buzz-worthycheesecake of themomenthails from Spain, hasno real crust and is served, ahem, burnt.
Ever hadBasque cheesecake? You're in for a treat.
Originally createdby Santiago Riviera at La Viña Bar in San Sebastian in 1990, the Basque cheesecake hasmade great headway on this side of the pond, popping up more frequentlyon Instagram and now in suburbanbakeries. The cake is known for its burnt top and souffle-likecenter, aresultof baking eggy cream cheese batter in high heat. That dark-looking, somewhatuneven"crust" is actually caramelized sugar. That jiggly center? You can call it custard.Most people simply call it delicious.
Eager to sink your teeth into this heavenly, light, satinycake? Here are four places that offer it.
DPNB Pasta & Provisions, Nyack, NY
DPNB — which stands for Drop Pasta Not Bombs — is an adorable little shop and cafe in Nyack where serious food lovers go for fresh, handmade pasta and farm-to-table specials. (While corn is in season, don’t miss the fresh tripolinewith sweet corn, oregano andbutter, topped with aged gouda.)
Chef Tony Scotto, a South Nyack native who owns DPNB with his wife, Louiedell, cut his teeth at the Hudson House in Nyack and, after attending the Institute of Culinary Education, was lead pasta cook at Lupa Osteria Romano in Manhattan and head of the pasta department at Michelin-starred Del Posto when it received its four-star review from the New York Times. He also worked for chef Michael White at Campagna at the Bedford Post Inn in Westchester and, before opening DPNB in January 2019, was the executive chef for the Fish & Game Group in Hudson, New York.
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You can buy his fresh sauces and pastas from the counter — there are hard-to-findshapes like treccione, which means braided,and paccheri, a large tube shape from Campania — or sit at the rustic wooden sidewalk tables and order from the well-edited menu (Starters, Pasta, Not Pasta). When it comes to pasta, you won't find better.
His Basque cheesecake — made with Philadelphia cream cheese, cream, eggs, sugar and a little flour — is killer. Its outside crust is caramelized, with a texture like cannele. The cake itself is dense but very moistand not too sweet. He plates it with fresh, plump Samascott's Orchard blueberries — or, in season, strawberries — that are mixed with mint and held together like struffoli with a drizzle ofhoney sparkling with MishMish No. 33, a spice blend withcrystallized honey, saffron, lemon and other spices from the specialty purveyor La Boîte. A terrific finish for an outstanding meal, no matter what you order.
A slice is $10, or order a whole cake from the catering menu for $55.
Go: 21 N.Broadway, Nyack, New York;845-353-2167,dpnbpastashop.com.
Kevin's Slice of Heaven, East Rutherford
Pastry chef Kevin Acosta offered Basque cheesecake the day he opened Kevin's Slice of Heaven, an onlineEuropean bakery that heruns out of his parents' house in East Rutherford.
His Latincustomers, he said, knew what it was from the get-go. Most of his other customers did not. So he offered asample — and they were hooked.
"'This is delicious,' they'd say," Acosta recalled."They like that it is different."
Unlike itsbetter-known cousin, the New Yorkcheesecake,aBasque cheesecake "wiggles everywhere," Acostasaid. "You don't check its doneness with a toothpick like you do a regular cheesecake," he said. "You look at how it shakes." You also don't bakeit in a water bath or give it a Graham cracker crust.
It also, he said, tends to be less sweet than other cheesecakes. "It doesn't put you in a sugar coma." And almost always, it isn't gilded: no sweetened fruits,chopped candy, crumbledcookies, or sweet syrups. It is served as is...burnt. Or, more accurately, looking burnt.
"In cooking school, you learn never to serve burnt food," Acosta said. "But Basque cheesecake is really not burnt, the outsideis brown because of itscaramelized sugar."
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And that caramelization is super delicious. "When you peeloff the parchment paper that it's baked in, it's almost black. Taste it; it's the best flavor," he said.
Acosta offers an 8-inch and 10-inch cake for $25 and $50 respectively. It can be ordered via Instagram,Facebook or email.
Go:instagram.com/kevinssliceofheaven,facebook.com/sweetsbykevor emailkevinssliceofheaven@yahoo.com.
Liv Breads - Artisan Bakery and Coffee Bar, Millburn
Basque cheesecake has been on the menu at Liv Breads for the past three years.
"It's always been a popular item," saidElana Livneh, co-owner and manager.
It has apparently gained popularity in the past year.
"We’ve seen an increased sale of the cake, perhaps around 15% in the past year," she said.
Livneh isn't sure why. It may be, she said, because todaythe cake can also be gotten at Liv Breads kiosk at The Mall in Short Hills, or because the shop now sells the cake by the slice as well. But there's still another reason: it's good.
"People really like it," Livneh said. The 8-inch cake costs $36.
Go: 184 Essex St., Millburn;973-218-6922,livbreads.com.
Ciel Dessert Restaurant & Patisserie, Westwood
When Jane Mun, pastry chef and co-owner of Ciel, wanted to offer cheesecake at her bakery, she knew it wouldn't be a New York cheesecake.
"Everyone has a New York cheesecake," she said.
Mun, who worked at some of the best restaurants in New York City including Eleven Madison Park, Le Cirque and Nobu, wanted something "classic butsomething that most people haven't tried," she said. Besides, soufflé is "hot in Asia now," she said, so she wanted to pounce on the trend.
Ergo,Basque cheesecake.
"It's a very simple cake — sugar, eggs, flour and cream cheese," she said."That's it. The trick is knowing how long tocook it. You have to keep an eye on it. It's kind of like making macarons — every batch is different."
Ciel today offers three versions of the cake: classic, matcha and Earl Grey. "The classic is very popular but we wanted to be able to offer something different too," she said. The matcha version sports fresh fruits; the Earl Grey chocolate sauce.
The cakes, which come in 6- and 9-inch sizes, cost from $30to $60 depending on flavor.
Go:273 Center Ave., Westwood; 201-497-8899,cieldessert.com.
EstherDavidowitzis thefood editor for NorthJersey.com. For more on where to dine and drink, pleasesubscribe todayand sign up forourNorth Jersey Eats newsletter.
Email:davidowitz@northjersey.com
Twitter:@estherdavido
