It’s no longer a secret: I love cheese.
I don’t come from a family of cheesemakers, but it is something that has always been around, since being a child.
Also, when something is going around my favourite subject, I can’t refrain myself to dig in.

Basque cheesecake phenomenon

Since the beginning of 2020, aside from the tragic COVID-19, there is a topic that I keep hearing and reading about on Chinese Internet:

The Basque Burnt Cheesecake

Somehow, it caught my attention. At first, I have doubted it was really from the Basque country. After some research (and the confirmation it was indeed a Basque pastry), I wanted to know more about this incredibly popular cheesecake. For many reasons, I couldn’t explain this sudden Chinese popularity:
It’s not THAT technical 
It’s good, undoubtedly, but still…
It’s undercooked in the middle…and burned on top! Doesn’t sound like first-class pastry, does it?
It’s not really “instagramable” 
The recipe is not even a secret!

Yet, the whole world wants a slice. 
Is it deserved? Probably not more than many other anonymous regional specialities. 
But in the meantime, Basque country is renowned for its gastronomy, its art of living and its craftsmanship.

A pastry born to rule

Ingredients are quite minimalistic: Eggs, cream cheese, heavy cream, flour (very few), sugar, salt, and: that’s pretty much it.

First, it is the Basque adaptation of a “classic” New-York Cheesecake, that is known & accepted by most people already. Of course, we could probably debate about who was invented first, but let’s just admit the Basque one was widely known more recently. 
Second, it is burned on top, which brings a caramel and hazelnut aftertaste as well as an intriguing aspect. It is also gooey in the middle, thanks to a shorten cooking time. 
Last, it is crustless. 
This last specification makes it soft as a cloud, and very delicate.

But what makes this cake, THIS cake lies in a couple of details, that have changed his destiny:

1- A great story-telling: It comes from a small “unknown” (technically not unknown anymore) restaurant in San Sebastián, Spanish Basque country (restaurant’s name is “La Viña“)

2- A kind of “inaccessible” side, which makes it intriguing, and highly desirable

3- And finally… The endorsement of many food personalities including Dominique Ansel (famous French baker), Paul Pairet (famous 3 Michelin stars French chef based in Shanghai), among many other personalities and countless blogs and Instagrammers, food-critics and journalists relaying this international phenomenon emerging towards the end of 2018.

In China

Unsurprisingly, after Hong-Kong and Singapore, the trend hits China, and especially (as usual) Shanghai. One of the first shop to commercialize this cheesecake is likely to be Ms P, a pastry lover, restaurant owner and journalist living in Shanghai.

The “Ugly Basque Burnt Cheesecake” from Ms P can be found on a Weidian shop (Wechat), and it has inspired dozens of bakeries/pastry shops and restaurant that just couldn’t miss the benefit from such a trend.

Typing “Basque” on Weibo gives an idea of the magnitude of this phenomenon, which is spreading all over China, with versions more or less faithful to the original.

Tried: the one from Mercado-505 

One of the versions that particularly caught my attention is the one from Mercado-505.
Mercado-505 is a casual contemporary restaurant, with affirmed Mediterranean roots, especially Spanish. How, then, could they not get into a global trend like this one?

Where Mercado-505 has been particularly clever is in its ability to offer the cheesecake in a consistent way with its restaurant image, as well as innovative: 

The cake is declined under three different recipes that include… high-end matured cheeses: Goat cheese, 18 month-old Comté and Fourme d’Ambert, a famous French blue cheese. 
How genius is that?

I tested the blue cheese version, and I was amazed by the cleverness of this cake that does not just copy blindly.
Chunks of blue cheese are sprinkled in the centre of the cake. It adds a superb salty touch and Umami flavour, characteristic of blue cheeses.
The essential features of the cake are also here: dark on top, “flowing” at heart, absence of crust and wrapped in baking paper.

Mercado is going beyond the trend of the Basque Burnt Cheesecake: The restaurant brings the world of high-end cheese in an original way that is, let’s face it, much more compatible than a usual piece of cheese over a slice of bread.

Even for me, being quite purist when it comes to cheese, I found the taste harmonious, very well associated, at the crossroads between a cheese platter and a dessert.
Success is there, of course. Difficult to get a cake, the restaurant has a hard time meeting the demand.

This is one of the most surprising edible discoveries of the year: I loved it, and I think you should try it if you are in Shanghai.

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Where to get this cake?
Place: Mercado-505, Shanghai
How to order: just visit or call the restaurant
Price: 238¥/6-inch cake.