Gazta Tarta – Spanish cheesecake – Jen Smith

This is quite simply divine and from someone who doesn’t have a sweet tooth, I look forward to a slice of this little piece of Spanish heaven. The combination of cream cheese, goat’s curd and yoghurt makes the centre of this cake superb and the brandy is the perfect subtle addition. The real key to this is the caramelised skin which should be down brown to black in colour. So simple to make and all you have to do is hold back and wait until it is cool before serving. This wonderful recipe is from Frank Camorra and Richard Cornish in their book Movida Rustica.

Gazta Tarta

butter, for greasing

plain flour, to dust

500ml cream

155g caster sugar

300g soft cream cheese

5 eggs

180g goat’s curd

125 thick plain yoghurt

grated zest of 2 lemons

juice of 1 lemon

40ml brandy

2 tablespoons icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Lightly grease a 25cm springform tin with butter, then dust with flour, shaking out the excess.

Place all the ingredients except the icing sugar in a food processor and blend until smooth. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 30 minutes, or until just set.

Carefully remove the cheesecake from the oven, sprinkle the icing sugar over the top and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove the cheesecake from the oven and, using a kitchen blowtorch, brown the top until it is very dark. Alternatively you can brown the cheesecake under a very hot grill.

Allow to cool before serving.