Burnt Basque cheesecake

Ingredients

• cooking spray or olive oil, for greasing

Cheesecake

• 500 g cream cheese, at room temperature
• 350 ml pouring cream
• 5 eggs
• 180 g caster sugar
• 35 g (¼ cup) plain flour
• 1 orange, zest finely grated
• 1 vanilla bean, halved lengthways and seeds scraped

Confit cherries

• 500 g (2 ¼ cups) caster sugar
• 50 ml Kirsch
• 1 vanilla bean, halved lengthways and seeds scraped
• 1 strip orange rind
• 250 g fresh or frozen cherries, pitted

Chilling time: overnight

You will need to begin this recipe 1 day ahead.

Instructions

1. Preheat a fan forced oven to 200°C. Grease a 20 cm springform tin with cooking spray or oil. To line the tin, scrunch up 2 pieces of baking paper about 30 cm x 40 cm long. Un-scrunch the paper and place the first piece of paper in the tin to line the base and sides. Spray the paper and repeat with the other piece running in the other direction.
2. For the cheesecake, place all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Pass through a fine sieve, then pour the mixture into the lined tin and stand for 5 minutes to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheesecake is dark brown on top and just firm but still wobbly when jiggled. Remove from the oven and stand in the tin to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate overnight or for at least 8 hours.
3. Meanwhile, for the confit cherries, place all the ingredients except the cherries in a saucepan, then add 500 ml (2 cups) water and stir to combine. Bring to the boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the cherries and simmer for 10 minutes, then remove from the heat and stand until cool.
4. To serve, unmould the cheesecake, cut into slices and spoon the cherries over the top.

Enjoy a taste of France at home with Guillaume Brahimi on Plat du Tour, each night during each live stage of the Tour de France exclusive broadcast on SBS. For broadcast times, go to sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral