{"id":4209,"date":"2025-01-23T03:06:34","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T03:06:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/the-secret-to-spains-famous-cheesecakes\/"},"modified":"2025-01-23T03:06:34","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T03:06:34","slug":"the-secret-to-spains-famous-cheesecakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/the-secret-to-spains-famous-cheesecakes\/","title":{"rendered":"The Secret to Spain\u2019s Famous Cheesecakes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
<\/p>\n

\"\"

\n

Basque cheesecake photo credit Kezia Lynn<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was around 2018 when I first ordered a slice of cheesecake in Spain. I was in Seville, where I live, at a restaurant serving classic tapas with a modern take. The cheesecake came browned on top and crustless. It was served warm. It was barely cooked in the center, almost molten-like. It was undeniably delicious.<\/p>\n

My next encounter was soon after with a Basque friend, who brought me a slice she had made in her tiny countertop oven. While also crustless and browned, it had a savory element that balanced out the sugar. Her secret was folding in idiaz\u00e1bal, a smoky aged cheese native to the Basque Country. Read about idiaz\u00e1bal and more<\/em> great Spanish cheeses you should know.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Origin of the Basque Cheesecake<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n

\"\"

\n

La Vin\u0303a Bakery cheesecake photo credit Jojo Yuen<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While there are various theories, most agree the recent proliferation of cheesecakes in Spain can be traced back to La Vi\u00f1a<\/a> in San Sebastian around 1992, a restaurant that continues to feed hundreds of crustless cakes with a toasty burnt top to their hungry guests, along with a traditional Basque menu. In 2018, American author Marti Buckley described this cheesecake with an accompanying recipe in her cookbook Basque Country,<\/a> calling it the most famous cheesecake in all of Europe: \u201cSomewhere between a New York cheesecake and a flan, La Vi\u00f1a cheesecake sets the gold standard in Basque Country. Part of this dessert\u2019s joy is its abundance. Tall, creamy, and downright sinful, the combination of five simple ingredients is ethereal. This cake needs no crust\u2014 the parts of the cake in contact with the pan brown faster, forming a natural crust that transitions gradually into the creamiest of cheese custards.\u201d Later in 2020, the New York Times<\/em> named this style of cheesecake, the \u201cburnt Basque cheesecake,\u201d as one of the top food trends for the year 2021.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Popularity of Basque Cheesecake Today<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n

\"\"

\n

Jon Garci\u0301a with slice of cheesecake<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fast forward to 2024 and the cheesecake is everywhere in Spain. It\u2019s rare to find a restaurant without one on the menu, be it a casual cafe, a traditional tapas bar, or an upscale fine dining establishment. It makes an appearance at every other birthday party, even wedding receptions. There are stores around the country solely dedicated to selling cheesecakes; lines snake out their doors as patrons leave with decorated boxes packed with gooey slices or miniature single-serving desserts.<\/p>\n

Jes\u00fas Delgado, chef of the high-end restaurant Sr. Cangrejo in Seville, is one the few people in town who doesn\u2019t have it on his menu but recognizes most of his chef friends do. \u201cIt\u2019s a safe bet,\u201d he says. \u201cThey know they will sell it no matter what.\u201d He chalks up the trend to social media, \u201cWith its creaminess and the oozing center, it\u2019s a very Instagrammable dessert.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jon Garc\u00eda, who owns one of the most popular cheesecake spots in the country, JonCake<\/a>, also believes social media has a lot to do with it and with over 100k followers on Instagram, he should know. \u201cIt\u2019s a very photogenic dessert\u201d he notes and mentions the restaurant Fismuler <\/a>in Madrid as one of the epicenters of the digital trend that went viral, with their gooey golden slices. For Garc\u00eda, the pandemic was another huge factor in launching such a craze. \u201cEveryone made a cheesecake during the pandemic because it utilizes so few ingredients,\u201d he says. He mentions La Vi\u00f1a\u2019s was the most replicated because it\u2019s foolproof. If you underbake it or overbake it, it\u2019s still good.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Savory Cheeses Are In<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n

\"\"

\n

Mr. Cheesecakes cheesecake and slice<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While there is certainly a spread of donut-topped and Oreo-flavored sugar bombs blowing up Spain\u2019s cheesecake social media channels, other chefs like Garc\u00eda focus more on harnessing national ingredients and, much like my Basque friend, they\u2019re looking to the country\u2019s best cheeses. Garc\u00eda credits the cheese-forward invention to another Basque restaurant, the now shuttered Zuberoa, that served a cheesecake made with Roquefort and idiaz\u00e1bal. Bruce Springsteen famously visited in 2009 and dubbed it the best cheesecake he had ever eaten.<\/p>\n

Since opening his first shop in Barcelona in 2021, Garc\u00eda estimates he has made cheesecakes utilizing over 400 varieties of cheeses. He and his team try out a couple different styles every week, highlighting practically every regional cheese in Spain with a denomination of origin (D.O.) designation, working with small Spanish artisan makers, and exposing the country to other lesser known European varieties like Norwegian and Polish. \u201cFor us, the cheese is the protagonist,\u201d says Garc\u00eda. He sees cheesecake as an approachable way for people to try different cheeses. Even his \u201cclassic\u201d cheesecake is made with four different styles, along with cream cheese: Parmigiano Reggiano, grana padano, gorgonzola, and mascarpone. Today, Jon Cake sells over 200 cheesecakes a day from its two locations. The second store, Jon Cake & Wine, is all about pairing cheesecakes with wines.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"

\n

Mr. Cheesecakes Payoyo cheesecake<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u00f1aki Decaceres is on a similar path with his various shops called Mr. Cheesecakes in southern Spain. I tasted cheesecakes made with a piquant blue variety called cabrales, along with another featuring a local Payoyo goat cheese. His list of over 50 cheesecakes and counting also includes Cheddar and an aged sheep\u2019s milk cheese with quince paste. He\u2019s even gone beyond cheese and experimented with a jam\u00f3n cheesecake, and another as an ode to his flagship store on the coast in Sanlucar de Barrameda, which is made with dry sherry wine and prawns. \u201cIt\u2019s all about balance,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Is it barbaric to bake artisan European cheese into an industrialized American spread? It seems most of Spain would say no. And if you\u2019re willing to wait in line for it, you\u2019ll probably agree.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Basque cheesecake photo credit Kezia Lynn It was around 2018 when I first ordered a slice of cheesecake in Spain. I was in Seville, where I live, at a restaurant serving classic tapas with a modern take. The cheesecake came browned on top and crustless. It was served warm. It was barely cooked in the … Okumaya devam et “The Secret to Spain\u2019s Famous Cheesecakes”<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1271,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[395],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-milk-and-diary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1271"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4209\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}