Japanese Cheesecake

Sorry for the lack of updates! We are still baking from time to time, just that we're a bit lazy on updating this blog :P

Our most recent baking session was to bake a Japanese cheesecake! We're always kind of scared to bake anything that requires 'cream cheese' as the taste would be overpowering and we couldn't really accept it. For this Japanese cheesecake, we changed the brand of the cream cheese we used to SCS and the taste was acceptable and we found the cake really yummy! Oink finished almost half of the cake in one day~ Our cake is more dense than airy though, so we're looking forward to baking it again to improve on it!

Ingredients for Japanese Cheesecake

• 140g fine granulated sugar
• 6 egg whites
• 6 egg yolks
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 50g butter
• 250g cream cheese (we used 200g)
• 100ml fresh milk (we used 150ml)
• 60g cake flour (can also use plain flour)*
• 20g corn flour
• 1/4 tsp salt

*We used plain flour.

Steps for Japanese Cheesecake

1. Preheat the oven at 160°C. Melt cream cheese, butter and milk over a double boiler. Cool the mixture. Fold in the flour, the cornflour, salt, egg yolks and mix well.
2. Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy on high speed. Add in the sugar and whisk until soft peaks form on low speed. (about 5-6min)
3. Sieve the cheese mixture. (mentioned in the link below, tip #2)
4. Add the egg whites to the sieved cheese mixture to and fold well. Pour into a 8-inch round springform cake pan or removable-bottom cake pan (lightly grease and line the bottom and sides of the pan* with greaseproof baking paper or parchment paper). Wrap the base of your cake tin with aluminium foil, to prevent seepage. (We did not do this!)
5. Bake cheesecake in a water bath** for 1 hour 10 mins or until set and golden brown at 160°C.*** Use a sheet of aluminium foil and place it loosely above the tin. Remove the aluminium foil only at the last 1-2 minutes of baking for the cake to brown.
6. Leave to cool in oven with door ajar, about 30mins to 1 hour. Sudden changes in temperature may cause the cake to cool too quickly and collapse.

* Line the bottom and sides of your cake tin. Make sure the baking paper extends higher than the cake tin by about 1.5 inches. (mentioned in the link below, tip #4)
** For the water bath, place 4 tart moulds filled with water in the 4 corners of the oven at the lowest rack of the oven. Place a wire rack one level above the lowest rack and place your cake tin on this wire rack. (mentioned in the link below, tip #3)
*** We baked for 1hour 10min and the cake came out to be slightly uncooked, so we are planning to bake it longer the next time ( (mentioned in the link below, tip #6)

Recipe adapted from: The Little Teochew

Do visit the link to the original recipe as there are tips given there!