Pumpkin Basque cheesecake with a dry Portuguese white

Basque cheesecake is baked in a very hot oven until the top is properly burnt and the centre still wobbles. There is no biscuit base and no bain-marie: it is one of the few cakes where a very deep colour is the mark of success.

Pumpkin purée suits it beautifully, adding moistness and a vegetal sweetness that tempers the sugar. Allow a night in the fridge, as it is eaten the next day, never warm.

Ingredients for 8

Prep 20 min · Cook 45 min · Easy

• 600g cream cheese, such as Philadelphia
• 250g pumpkin purée, well drained
• 180g sugar
• 4 eggs
• 250ml double cream
• 30g flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• A pinch of nutmeg and ginger
• A pinch of salt

Method

1. Heat the oven to 210°C. Crumple a large sheet of baking paper and use it to line a 20cm tin, leaving plenty overhanging the sides: the creases give the cake its distinctive look.
2. Beat the cream cheese with the sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the pumpkin purée, cream, sifted flour, spices and salt.
3. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 45 minutes. The top should be very dark, almost black in places, and the centre should still wobble when you shake the tin.
4. Leave to cool completely, then chill overnight. Take it out of the fridge 1 hour before serving.

The wine: a dry white rather than a sweet one

Reaching for a sweet wine with dessert is a reflex, but here it would be a mistake: the cheesecake is already rich and sweet, and a sweet wine would only make it feel heavy. What it needs instead is a dry white that refreshes the palate between mouthfuls.

• The Boca Mar Alvarinho 2025 (Casa Santos Lima): a floral vinho verde with hints of almond and a very pure expression, whose minerality provides the perfect counterpoint.
• The Quinta do Paral Grande Reserva 2020: a mellow Alentejo white with notes of dried flowers and artichoke, fuller in style, for those who prefer mature whites.
• The Colheita Selectionnada Selected Harvest 2025 from Adega de Pegões: a white from the Setúbal Peninsula with a creamy texture and notes of hazelnut and toasted oak, for lovers of richer whites.

Portugal is gaining ground on every export market, and our analysis of its global breakthrough explains why. Its native red grapes are well worth exploring too: a journey through Portugal's native red varieties.

Portuguese wine can also be discovered through its co-operatives, such as the one at Cartaxo, a real success story.