Parmesan and Cheddar Burnt Basque Cheesecakes by Queic by Olivia

Most flavoured cheesecakes are flavoured after other foods, but what happens if cheesecakes are flavoured after different types of cheeses? This is what the cheesecake repertoire of Queic by Olivia is about. Across their menu, they have cheesecakes flavoured after various types of cheeses, including a Gruyère Cheesecake, a Stilton Cheesecake, a Brie Cheesecake and a Ricotta Cheesecake. Their signature burnt cheesecake is made with blue cheese and cream cheese. While I hope to try all of them eventually, I started with their Basque Burnt Cheesecakes. 
Cheddar Burnt Basque Cheesecakes by Queic by Olivia
Their available flavours at their JEM branch were the Classic Basque Burnt Cheesecake, which is actually a parmesan and goat cheese cheesecake, and their Cheddar Basque Burnt Cheesecake, which is an aged cheddar and red leicester cheesecake, and is also the one in the first photo above.

Although the Cheddar Cheesecake is their seasonal special flavour, oddly, the Parmesan Cheesecake was the one with the more distinct flavour and unique profile. As its flavour was also more intense, I highly recommend trying the Cheddar Cheesecake first before moving on to the Parmesan one, if you're having them together. Otherwise, you probably won't notice much difference between a normal cheesecake and their cheddar cheesecake. I ran into this problem because I tried the classic parmesan cheesecake first, thinking that the classic flavour would be milder and less characteristic.
Parmesan and Cheddar Burnt Basque Cheesecakes by Queic by Olivia
Cheddar Basque Burnt Cheesecake

I will start with this as it was quite subtle in its flavour. It is surprisingly quite close to a normal Basque burnt cheesecake, with that eggy custard pudding and cream cheese taste for the majority of the flavour, like around 90% of the time. So it was a very egg and custard-forward flavour profile, despite them having used aged vintage cheddar. 

The cheddar and red leicester cheeses contributed an overall very slightly saltier and acidic, almost yoghurt-like profile, and only asserted themselves characteristically a little more in the end, towards the aftertaste where you can finally tell that there are some cheddar cum red leicester notes. Furthermore, the cheddar was also paired with red leicester, which is even milder than cheddar, so overall, the cheddar flavour didn't come across as aged at all, but felt very much like a commercial young and mild cheddar variety. 

For the main part of the body, the cheesecake was actually quite sweet, so it didn't feel particularly savoury despite the use of aged cheddar. If you hadn't told me that it was supposed to be a cheddar cheesecake, I might not even have known, and just assumed that it was slightly more intensely cheesy in the aftertaste. I think they should have lessened the level of sugar to let the cheddar's flavours and sharpness come out a bit more.
Cheddar Burnt Basque Cheesecakes by Queic by Olivia - close-up view
The layer of vivid golden poppy or orange-yellow line in the middle is like a layer of the milder red leicester cheese, as I didn't notice any particular pop of sharp acidity or saltiness that you might expect of an aged vintage cheddar. It was just a tad more acidic and tangy than the rest of the custardy creamcheese-like cake, but otherwise was relatively mild, nutty, moist and creamy, even a little bit stringy. It did provide a nice but subtle variation in texture and a very slight pop of taste, but it was very thin and still dominated by the rest of the custardy cheesecake.

This photo below is a closeup of one bite of the cheesecake, and you can see from the texture that it is actually pretty creamy and soft, almost like a custardy bread pudding in texture, not firm at all.
Cheddar Burnt Basque Cheesecakes by Queic by Olivia - creamy texture close-up
Classic Basque Burnt Cheesecake (or a parmesan Basque burnt cheesecake with goat cheese)

This was by far my favourite of the two, and actually, possibly one of my favourite cheesecakes ever, because of how intensely the cheese profile came through.

The first overall impression I had, strangely, is that this is the cheesecake version of the Ritz cheddar cheese spread that comes packed with their crackers, but in the aftertaste it gets more complex because of the goat cheese, which I felt was a wonderful complement to the parmesan.
Classic (Parmesan) Basque Burnt Cheesecake with Goat Cheese
In terms of the details, what hit my palate first were distinctly sharp and intense savoury notes that were very bold and had a lot of umami, much more than any other cheesecake I've had before. The parmesan flavour seems to be that of a slightly less aged parmesan cheese, as the tangy buttery milk powder notes were accompanied by thick nuttiness, which gives way to notes of melon in the aftertaste, probably from the goat cheese. 

The texture also felt slightly firmer and a tad less moist than the cheddar one. While the cheddar one came across as more creamy, this one felt a bit more pastelike and closer to a New York cheesecake, for example.

As you can see in the photo above, it also looks slightly less yellow than the cheddar basque burnt cheesecake and doesn't have that vivid orange-yellow line through it. But that is deceiving as the taste was super intense and had a very nice kick.

Given how different these two cakes are, I suppose the chef sought to create a spread of tastes and distinguish the two flavours, which could explain why the cheddar cheesecake seemed much less cheddar-like than the parmesan one.

Finally, this photo below is the Queic by Olivia menu for the JEM branch that I visited for reference. (Click to enlarge.) They do have other non-cheese flavoured cheesecakes, the most interesting of which would probably be the Dubai Chocolate one or the Pandan Kaya one. But I think those which represent different types of cheeses would be more subtle and nuanced in their flavour differences, and it's not as interesting to experience if the other intense flavours drown out the nuances of the cheese.
Queic by Olivia JEM Branch Menu
Verdict

If you prefer a creamy and sweet cheesecake that leans slightly more sharp with notes of cheddar, then go for the Cheddar Cheesecake.

If you like an overall intense and sharp, savoury and umami cheesecake that is also complex and not too overbearing, go for the Parmesan Cheesecake.

Discover other interesting cheesecakes and cheese-inspired treats

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