Basque · Hegoalde (Spain) · dessert

Tarta de Queso de La Viña

Name: Tarta de Queso de La Viña
Prep time: 1 h 5 min
Total time: 3 h 5 min
Cuisine: Basque · Hegoalde (Spain)
Ingredients: cream cheese — 1000 g; caster sugar — 400 g; eggs — 330 g; heavy cream — 500 g; all-purpose flour — 30 g; salt — 5 g; unsalted butter — 20 g; pedro ximénez sherry — 120 g

Tarta de Queso de La Viña reads sweetness 7.1, richness 7.0 and salinity 3.8 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Basque · Hegoalde (Spain) dessert, about 3 hr 5 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

Umami & Savory — 4.2 / 10
Sweet & Fruity — 8.1 / 10
Sour & Bright — 0.7 / 10
Bitter & Earthy — 0.7 / 10
Rich & Fat — 7.2 / 10
Aromatic & Spice — 0.5 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Sweetness 7.1 · Richness 7.0 · Salinity 3.8 · Fruity 3.4 · Umami 2.8 · Funk & Ferment 1.2 · Sourness 0.7 · Bitterness 0.6 · Earthy 0.6 · Floral 0.5 · Nutty 0.5

What's in it (8)

cream cheese — 1000 g
caster sugar — 400 g
eggs — 330 g
heavy cream — 500 g
all-purpose flour — 30 g
salt — 5 g
unsalted butter — 20 g
pedro ximénez sherry — 120 g

Time & effort: about 3 hr 5 min (1 hr 5 min active) · effort: medium

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 302.8 kcal, 4.7 g protein, 23.4 g fat, 20.3 g carbs

Dietary: Vegetarian · Contains dairy · Contains egg — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (6 steps)

This is the cheesecake Santiago Rivera has baked at La Viña in San Sebastián since 1990. It is not an old Basque dish and nobody in the Basque Country pretends it is — it is a modern bar dessert that happens to be very good. It has no base, no water bath, and it is meant to be scorched on top and barely set in the middle.
Heat the oven to 210C (410F). Butter a 23 cm springform tin, then line it with two overlapping sheets of baking parchment pressed into the corners and left standing 5 cm proud of the rim. The creases are part of the look; do not try to make it neat.
Beat the cream cheese and sugar together on medium speed for 3 minutes until completely smooth with no lumps. Scrape the bowl twice. Cold cheese will not smooth out, which is why it has to be at room temperature.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating about 40 seconds after each, roughly 4 minutes in all. Pour in the cream and the salt and beat 2 minutes more on low. Sift the flour over the surface and fold it in by hand in one minute — only 30 g, just enough to hold the custard together.
Pour into the tin and bake for 50 minutes. The top must go genuinely dark — deep mahogany, almost burnt in patches — and the middle 8 cm should still wobble like a loose jelly when you nudge the tin. If it is set through, it is overbaked; pull it 5 minutes earlier next time.
Cool at room temperature for at least 2 hours before unmoulding. It will sink in the centre; that is correct. Serve at room temperature, never chilled hard, in wedges cut with a hot knife, with a small glass of Pedro Ximénez poured alongside.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Mcnamara'S Irish Soda Bread — Irish
Maduros (Sweet Fried Plantains) — Cuban
Scalloped Corn — American
Roast Breadfruit — Jamaican
Beignets — Southern

Keep reading: what sweetness, richness, salinity mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.