Basque cheesecake

Chef MAT LINDSAY from Sydney’s Ester shares his recipe for this burnt beauty.

- GRACE MACKENZIE

Hailing from the north of Spain, Basque cheesecake is the perfectly imperfect dessert with the now-iconic burnt exterior. Credited to chef Santiago Rivera, his creamy creation first wowed in 1990. A smokiness that offsets the sweetness, no crust and a pillowy centre hiding just beneath the scorched top is the result of a simple combination of ingredients. Where Ester’s Mat Lindsay uses the flames of his woodfired oven to bake his blackened version, you can recreate it at home by baking at a high temperature.

Temperature matters