Coconut Basque Cheesecake

We recently tasted a wonderful cake at Melané, one of our favorite coffee shops in Paris. If this coffee shop were in our neighborhood, we’d be back again and again, but for now we simply pop in whenever we’re in the area.

Melané was opened about a year ago by Melanie and Tcheol. She’s Korean, he’s French Korean, born in Paris, who flew to Korea to complete his mandatory military service. “Tcheol was born in Paris, studied architecture, and went to Korea to enlist in the army. Afterwards he stayed on in Korea and worked as a barista, but we didn’t meet at a café, we met at the gym,” Melanie tells us with a big smile.

In 2019 the two of them moved back to Paris together and dreamed up their own coffee shop. They opened Melané, meaning “at Melanie’s” in Korean, in a space that had previously housed a Korean café called 82+ (Korea’s country code prefix). The place had belonged to a childhood friend of Tcheol’s, and when he told her he wanted to open a café, she decided to sell him the space, along with its loyal clientele.

The regulars from 82+ still come to Melané, where they’re welcomed warmly by Tcheol and Melanie, as well as by the couple who owned the place before them. “They help us and connect us with their customers,” Melanie tells us. It’s lovely to see the collaboration between the two couples.

The café itself is beautifully designed: elegant wooden tables and chairs, wooden ceiling fans, delicate wooden cabinets, and a counter behind which Tcheol prepares the coffee. The dessert case holds a rotating selection of cakes, and you can also try special Korean sweets on site.

One of our favorite cakes at Melané is the coconut Basque cheesecake, a wonderful variation on the classic Basque cheesecake, with a perfect texture and a beautiful coconut flavor that blends seamlessly with the cheese and the biscuit base.

The lovely Tcheol agreed to share the recipe with me. I made it in our magical Parisian apartment and tested that it works for you too. Here’s the result.

Coconut Basque Cheesecake
Round, non-springform cake pan, 18 cm

Ingredients
Crumb Base:
100g biscuit crumbs (such as Petit Beurre)
50g melted butter

Basque Cheesecake Layer:
560g cream cheese, at room temperature
150g sugar
200g eggs (3 to 4 medium eggs, depending on egg size)
280g heavy whipping cream
125g natural coconut purée
15g toasted ground coconut
Pinch of salt
5g cornstarch

Coconut Mascarpone Cream:
180g heavy whipping cream
70g mascarpone cheese
80g natural coconut purée
A little toasted ground coconut, for garnish

Preparation
1. Crumb Base: Grease the pan and line it with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F).
2. Mix the biscuit crumbs with the melted butter, press evenly into the bottom of the pan, and bake for about 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
3. Leave the oven on and raise the temperature to 220°C (430°F).
4. Basque Cheesecake Layer: In a medium bowl, mix the cream cheese and sugar until the cheese softens and becomes light and fluffy.
5. Add the eggs gradually, mixing until fully incorporated into the cheese.
6. Add the cream and mix.
7. Add the coconut purée, toasted coconut, and salt, and mix.
8. Add the cornstarch and mix until you get a smooth, even batter.
9. Pour the cheesecake batter over the crumb base. Place the pan inside a larger, slightly deeper pan, and pour a little hot water into the outer pan to create steam.
10. Bake for about 25 minutes, until the cake is deeply browned on top but still wobbly in the center. Turn off the oven and leave the cake inside for about 15 minutes with the door slightly ajar.
11. Remove from the oven, let cool to room temperature, and only then refrigerate overnight.
12. Coconut Mascarpone Cream: Whip the cream together with the mascarpone and coconut purée until you get a very stable cream.
13. Spread the cream over the top of the cake, sprinkle with a little toasted coconut for garnish, and return to the fridge to set.
*It’s best to serve the cake at room temperature, so take it out of the fridge about half an hour before serving.

Bon-Appétit
Sharon