Gingerbread Basque cheesecake with royal icing snowflakes

Very lightly butter a cake pan, generously butter a round of parchment, press it in as evenly as possible and flatten the pleated seams so no batter gets into gaps.

Separate one egg; refrigerate the yolk for the batter.

Royal icing: to the white add an optional pinch of cream of tartar and some powdered sugar; whisk, adding more powdered sugar, until very thick and hard to whisk.

Transfer to a piping bag with a small round tip and pipe snowflakes freehand (or over a traced design) onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Let the snowflakes dry 12 to 24 hours until completely hard.

Batter: to the cream cheese add flour, white sugar, molasses, a splash of vanilla, salt, ground ginger, cinnamon and a small touch of ground clove.

Cream with a hand mixer, raising to a higher speed once it loosens, until light and fluffy.

Add the reserved yolk and the four whole eggs one at a time, incorporating each before the next, so the batter does not separate.

Pour in the heavy cream and mix briefly.

Transfer with a spatula into the prepared pan, almost to the top; tap the pan down to knock out bigger bubbles.

Bake in the upper centre of a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes.

Raise the heat to 450 and bake another 10 minutes or so, until puffed and darker brown with a jiggle when wiggled. Optionally flash under the broiler for a minute.

Cool at least an hour to room temperature; cracks may form.

Lift out onto a plate, peel back the paper, trim it, wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Remove the dried snowflakes from the paper; move the cold cheesecake to a platter and cover cracks and imperfections with snowflakes.

Dust with powdered sugar; slice and serve, garnished with snowflakes and more powdered sugar.