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Cheese

(Basque style) Mahón cheesecake by Judith Zárate

(Basque style) Mahón cheesecake by Judith Zárate

Barcelona (Spain) has had Cheese Bakers since the beginning of 2024, a charming bakery where everything is made with cheese, from appetizers to breads, focaccias and, of course, desserts. The key that helps to understand how daring this initiative is, is the very fashionable Basque-style cake with a creamy, almost liquid interior. The Basque-style cheesecake is also known as La Viña cheesecake after the famous recipe from the family restaurant La Viña in San Sebastián. After reading several books, putting ideas together, and carrying out many tests, Santiago Rivera created a recipe more than 30 years ago that has become so popular that national and international chefs began to make their own versions. Its most notable feature is that it has one kilogram of cream cheese and only contains eggs, flour, sugar and cream as ingredients; no biscuits or raspberry or blackberry coulis.

 

At Cheese Bakers, the work of the young Judith Zárate stands out, trained at the prestigious School of the Pastry Guild of Barcelona (EPGB). Below we share her recipe for Mahón cheesecake, undoubtedly the star product of the house.

 

“We started with different types of cheese and we have left those that have had the best response. There is brie cheese, which is the one that sells the most, but also Mahón, Gorgonzola, and goat cheese. Recently we have also incorporated a cheesecake with chocolate,” says Zárate.