At first glance the Basque cheesecake may not look like much – there are no fancy berry or chocolate toppings, it’s a pale-yellow colour with almost black looking burnt top and there’s no biscuit base.
You’d be forgiven if you didn’t choose it among a case full of chocolate-chip filled cookies, gooey brownies and even its New York counterpart, but you’d be making a huge mistake.
Basque cheesecake isn’t about the presentation, the look or the added extras, it’s all about the taste. It has a slightly wobbly texture and when you bit into it and it’s so light and creamy that it melts in the mouth – almost like a mousse, yet without the bubbles. Pair this with a very slight charred caramelised flavour on top, which is not at all overpowering or unpleasant. It complements the light cream cheese taste perfectly.
Unlike other cheesecakes, it’s also stored at room temperature making it less dense an almost oozing out on the plate.
In recent years, people have been going crazy for this simplistic, yet rich indulgent dessert, and have been extolling its virtues throughout the world through social media.
Yet, the story of Basque cheesecake had very humble beginnings and can be traced back to just one bar in the northern Spanish city of San Sebastián - La Viña. It was founded in 1959 by brothers Eladio and Antonio Rivera, serving pintxos and other classic Basque dishes.
When Eladio’s son Santi Rivera took over the family business in the 1980s, he began setting about creating a tasty dessert for the bar and experimenting with different cheesecake recipes. It took him a total of three years to perfect.
Santi chose to simplify the dish by eliminating the biscuit base and not add any toppings so as not take away from the smooth creamy texture - and the celebrated cheesecake was born. In Basque it's referred to as Gazta Tarta.
READ ALSO - OPINION: Why Spanish cakes and desserts aren't among the best
It soon became recognised throughout the city, but it wasn’t until the rise of social media that it’s fame really took off.
Today you have to fight for your space at the bar and order your slices (yes one portion always comes in two parts), which inventor Santi recommends is paired with a sweet dessert wine such as Pedro Ximénez.
La Viña’s cheesecake has become so popular in fact, that many chefs have tried to replicate it, adding their own individual twists.
In Barcelona Jon Cake has taken the Basque cheesecake up a different path, adding the crunchy biscuit layer back in and making it with real cheese flavours such as brie and Spanish varieties such as Idiazábal (a smoked sheep’s cheese) and Cabrales (an Asturian blue cheese). It now as a daily queue of its own, all the way down the street.
But it’s not just in Spain where Basque cheesecake has taken off, in fact it’s probably even more popular in some cities abroad.
Editor of The Local Oslo, Frazer Norwell tells us the Basque treat can now be found all over the Norwegian capital. It was first brought to the city by a pastry chef from Barcelona and has since been found in many bakeries across the Scandinavian country.
Of course, no trends skip out New York and LA. The New York Times even wrote an article about it back in 2021, predicting its popularity – or possibly setting the worldwide trend. Indeed, Santi believes that this article helped to tell its story to the world.
The hip Soho neighbourhood in London was of course also one of the first to jump on the trend. La Martixu was founded in 2021 by three Basque sisters and their burnt Basque cheesecake became so popular that they have now just opened another branch – specialising in just cheesecakes in September 2024.
In 2022, Spanish newspaper El País wrote an article about how Basque cheesecake was taking the Turkish city of Istanbul by storm. While it reports that many of the bakeries and chefs wouldn’t even be able to point to San Sebastián on a map, but yet they know how to recreate its famous cheesecake.
But, it seems that the cheesecake had already arrived in Asia well before it became popular in the rest of Europe and the US. Trendsetting Japan even had it before that famed New York Times article was published. Gazta in Tokyo is a speciality Basque cheese store which opened back in 2018. And there were even articles written about the best places you can find the dessert in the city back in 2019.
In 2020 Asia Tatler reported that La Viña’s iconic Basque cheesecake had arrived in Hong Kong. There were even articles written in 2020, listing the best places to find the dessert in both the capital of the Philippines – Manila and the capital of Thailand – Bangkok.
It has also reached the suburbs of Perth in Australia, with journalists writing about how good Basque cheesecake is there too.
So why is it so popular throughout the world? Could it be that people love its reputation, its story, its humble beginnings in the foodie city of San Sebastián or perhaps the taste really does surpass all other cheesecakes.
Whatever you believe, the very best Basque cheesecake still has to be the original at La Viña. It’s not just hype, it really is that good.
But if you can't wait or don't want to travel that far, there are reports that they will soon be coming to a Mercadona near you.
Comments