San Sebastian Coffee Cheesecake Recipe
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Recipe Overview
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 40-45 minutes
Serves 8 people
Ingredients Needed
- 750g/1.6lbs cream cheese, very soft
- 300g/10.6flozs double cream
- 275g/9.7ozs caster or superfine sugar
- 15g/0.5oz instant coffee powder (can use Vietnamese or any instant coffee powder)
- 1 tablespoon cornflour/fine cornstarch
- 5 eggs
For Vietnamese Coffee Sauce
- 250ml/8.8ozs sweetened condensed milk
- 50ml/1.7flozs Vietnamese coffee
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 210C/410F conventional or 190C/374F fan forced. Take a large sheet of parchment and scrunch up into a ball. Wet with water and unfurl and spread out and line a 20cm/8inch springform pan with it, pushing it out onto the sides. Curl the edges over the sides of a 20cm/8inch baking tin.
Step 2 - Take the cream cheese bricks out of the foil packaging and place on a plate in the microwave and heat on 30% power in 1 minute increments until very soft. Place in the food processor with the cream and sugar and process for 30 seconds on high. Scrape down the sides and process for 30 seconds again until very smooth. Thermomix directions: set to 30 seconds, speed 10, scrape down sides and repeat. Whisk coffee powder and eggs together and add to the cream cheese mixture with cornflour and blend for 10 seconds until smooth and well combined. Thermomix directions: set to 10 seconds, speed #4.
Step 3 - Pour into the lined baking tin and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 40-45 minutes turning halfway. The top should be browned and the centre should still jiggle somewhat. Cool at room temperature for 1 hour, then cover and refrigerate overnight.
Step 4 - Mix the condensed milk with the Vietnamese coffee to make a sauce. Slice the cheesecake up and serve with the sauce on the side to pour on top.
Personal Note
I got the coffee powder for this recipe from our recent trip to Vietnam but you can really use any sort of coffee for this recipe. The hotel we were staying at in Vietnam had Vietnamese milk powder instant sachets that were so good that I took some with me.
For part of our trip, we were cruising down the Mekong River from Cambodia to Vietnam and we had a great guide called Bang for the Vietnam portion of our trip. He started us off with a quiz which is always fun. "What are the three types of shops you will find every 300 metres?" he asked us. "Coffee shops or cafes!" I said as that was the first thing that came to mind. That turned out to be one of them. Another girl Sarah said, "Pharmacy!" and she was right. And then it was up to everyone else to guess the third thing sold. "There's a prize for every right guess!" said Bang. Everyone else shouted out everything from rice, gasoline, mobile phones, scooters to coconuts but these weren't the correct answer.
Another day we stopped by this island town where they sold coffee powder to make Vietnamese coffee. I picked up a bag of it along with a bag of locally grown cacao powder. All I needed now was one of those metal Vietnamese Phin drip coffee filters. When we got back on the bus Bang asked us again for a third guess. Someone finally guessed that it was a grocery store and we had all three guesses marked. And he was right, in busy areas, there was always a store selling these three things. Bang's explanation was, "We're basically lazy, we don't want to walk a long way to get the essentials." And considering how hot it was I totally understood that.
On our last day of the cruise I realised that I needed to buy a Phin filter but then Mr NQN showed me the prize from Bang and it was one of those Phin coffee makers! I feel as though my Vietnamese version of the San Sebastian cheesecake had a support in the universe who bestowed me everything that I needed to make this :)
So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever tried making San Sebastian cheesecake? Would you have guessed those three shops? And do things sometimes just fall in your lap like this?