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Cheesecake Breton (Breton Cheesecake)

Cheesecake Breton (Breton Cheesecake) is a traditional French recipe (from Brittany) for classic cheesecake with a Breton palet cake and a Breton fresh or cottage cheese based filling flavoured with salted butter caramel. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic French version of: Breton Cheesecake (Cheesecake Breton).

prep time

30 minutes

cook time

45 minutes

Total Time:

75 minutes

Serves:

6

Rating:

Tags : Cheese RecipesBaking RecipesCake RecipesFrench RecipesBreton Recipes

The French tend to associate cheesecakes with American cuisine. Though a cheesecake is not a cake in a true sense, it's more of a torte. The first cheesecakes probably originated in ancient Greece and were then brought to Rome. Cato the elder presents a recipe. However, these are not cheesecakes in the modern sense (though the placenta cake does come close). We do see a recipe in the medieval A forme of cury for a saubucade flavoured with elderflower and rose waters that really does close, so an argument can be made that cheesecake is an English invention. This also means that cheesecake has its origins in the 13th century.

Various versions of cheesecakes are made throughout Europe, and this is the version from Brittany. Using palets Bretons as the base and with fresh cheese such as Madame Loïc or Saint-Moret for the topping, all finished with Breton salted butter caramel (what else?).

Ingredients:

200g of palets Bretons
80g butter, melted
Salted butter caramel (for the topping)
750g of fresh cheese
200g caster sugar
20g of flour
4 eggs
2 tsp of vanilla extract

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 150° (gas mark 5).

Using a food processor or by placing them in a plastic bag and hitting with a rolling pin, reduce the palets Bretons to crumbs and add the melted butter. Mix until you the biscuit crumbs are well coated then press into the base and part way up the sides of a springform pan. Once done, transfer to your refrigerator to set.

In a salad bowl, gently beat the fresh cheese to "relax" it. Then mix in the powdered sugar and flour until you obtain a very smooth mixture. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well to combine after each addition. Finish with vanilla extract. Pour everything into the cake tin on your shortbread base.

Transfer to your pre-heated oven and bake for about 45 minutes. The cheese layer beome puffy. Turn off the oven and let the cake sit in the cooling oven for an additional hour.

Remove from the oven and allow it to cool completely before transferring to your refrigerator where it should chill for at least 24 hours. At this point remove the cake tin, then pour a generous layer of salted butter caramel over the top. Return to the refrigerator and chill for at least 2 hours before serving.