Mini Basque Cheesecake (Mini Burnt Cheesecake)

5 from 4 votes

This mini Basque cheesecake recipe makes the creamiest, most delectable mini burnt cheesecakes in cupcakes sizes, perfect for parties!

Prep Time10

Cook Time15

Chilling time4

Total Time4 25

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Spain

Servings: mini cheesecakes

Calories: 295.5kcal

This recipe can make about 6 to 8 mini cheesecakes depending on the size of your parchment casings.
To make the casings, start by cutting square pieces of parchment paper. The size of the squares will depend on the size of your muffin pan. For a muffin pan with holes size of 2.75 cm diameter at the top and 2.25 inches diameter at the bottom and 1.25 inches deep, I cut parchment squares measuring 5.5 inches by 6inches.
Place the paper on your muffin tray, making sure it is well centered.
Press it into the holes and use your finger tips to press and push the paper right to the edges of the muffin tray holes.
Trim off excess corners of the paper at the top. Do not cut too much, there should be excess paper above the rims of each muffin hole of the tray. This will help ensure your mini Basque cheesecake batter does not overflow as you bake it. These mini cupcake cheesecakes tend to rise during baking.

Before you start, make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature, especially the cheese. Also, preheat the oven to 225 degrees Celsius.
Add the cheese into a mixing bowl. Beat it until smooth for 30 to 60 seconds on medium speed until smooth.
Add the granulated sugar and beat again for 20 seconds.
Scrape the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs, salt and vanilla extract.
Beat until smooth for 20 seconds.
Scrape the sides of the bowl again. Fold in the flour.
Finally, add the cream. Mix well. You can use a cake mixer to beat the cream in or use a spatula. If using the machine, limit the beating time to 20 seconds. Too much beating will cause the cheesecake batter to incorporate too much air bubble. It will leave unsightly bubbly surface to your mini Basque cheesecake.

For easy pouring, transfer the batter into a large mixing glass.
Pour the batter into the prepared parchment lined muffin cups until the rim of the muffin cup holes.
The cakes will rise during baking, and the excess parchment paper on the sides will help ensure there are no overflows of the batter.
Bake the mini cheesecake cupcakes on the middle rack in your oven at 225 degrees Celsius for 10 to 12 minutes. Keep close watch of the mini Basque cheesecakes after the 10 minutes mark. If your cheesecakes are well browned on the top, you can turn off the oven and need not wait until the 12 minutes are up.
These mini Basque cheesecake cupcakes should ideally be well caramelized at the top (not entirely burnt) and yet they should still be wobbly in the center as you shake the muffin tray. Turn off the oven and let the cakes rest in the oven for about 30 seconds before removing them and cooling them to room temperature.
The cakes are best served after refrigeration for about 3 to 4 hours.

Here are some of the important factors to take note when making this delicious cheesecake:

These mini Basque burnt cheesecake are baked at a higher than normal cakes and regular cheesecakes temperature. While a traditional cheesecake is best baked at a slightly lower temperature and in a water bath compared to a normal cake, these Basque cheesecakes are best baked at a higher temperature of 225 degrees Celsius for about 10 to 12 minutes. No water bath is required.

Do take note, however, that results may vary from one oven to another, so it is always best to try out to see if the temperature yields the results expected.

Given that these are mini cupcake sized Basque cheesecake, the baking time is quite short. This is similar to traditional mini cheesecakes.

Baking the cakes for too long will give them a quiche like texture. The taste will still be fine, but Basque cheesecakes are meant to have soft and creamy texture and you achieve this by controlling the cooking time.

Larger Basque cheesecakes typically have gooey centers, but that is hard to achieve with smaller version like these mini cheesecakes as the high heat they are baked in tend to cook the centers more than it does to a larger cake. It is however, possible to achieve a soft, light and creamy texture for these mini Basque cheesecakes by placing them in the middle rack in the oven, baking at a high temperature of 225 degrees Celsius and keeping the baking time short.

When fully baked, the center of these burnt cheesecakes should be wobbly. The cakes continue to cook as they cool down, and therefore, you should stop cooking them when they reach this stage.