Japanese Cheesecake

Makes 8″ round cake pan | Prep Time: 30 mins | Bake Time: 78 mins
Recipe adapted from I Eat I Shoot I Post

INGREDIENTS:

Cream cheese batter

250 gram Philadelphia cream cheese
6 egg yolks
70 gram castor sugar (This is half of the total 140 gram)
60 gram unsalted butter
100 ml full cream milk
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp lemon zest
60 gram cake flour / superfine flour
20 gram corn starch
1/4 tsp salt

Meringue
6 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
70 gram castor sugar (This is half of the total 140 gram)

METHOD:

1. Pre-heat oven to 200°C / 392°F (Top and bottom heat, no fan force)
2. Grease 8″ x 3″ cake pan with butter, line bottom with baking paper
3. Whisk cream cheese till smooth over a warm water bath
4. Add yolks and whisk
5. Add half the sugar (70 gram) and whisk
6. Warm milk and butter in microwave (high, 1 min) or stove, whisk into batter
7. Add salt, lemon juice, lemon zest and whisk
8. Remove from water bath, sift cake flour and corn starch and fold into mixture
9. Whisk whites at low speed till foamy
10. Add cream of tartar and beat at high speed till bubbles become very small but still visible
11. Gradually add the balance 70 gram of sugar and beat till soft peaks
 12. Fold whites into batter 1/3 at a time
13. Pour into cake pan and tap the pan on the counter to release air bubbles
14. Bake on the bottommost rack in a preheated 200°C / 392°F for 18 mins, lower to 140°C / 284°F for
30 mins (let the heat in the oven to drop gradually with door closed) and turn off the oven and leave
cake in the closed oven for 30 mins. Remove water bath and open the door of the oven slightly at
the end of the baking for 30 mins for cake to cool.

COOK’S NOTE:

1. Egg – Size: large. I separate the yolk and white by using cold egg. By the time you’ve finished
preparing the cream cheese batter, the egg whites are just nice to beat into meringue.
2. Cream Cheese – I used Philadelphia through out all my Japanese cheesecakes, hence, I am not sure
how other brands of cream cheese work for this recipe.
3. Sugar – you may reduce the sugar to 120g in total if you prefer to reduce some calories intake.
Caster sugar is slightly finer than fine granulated sugar, if you cannot find caster sugar, lightly grind
your fine granulated sugar to break them smaller. Do not use powdered sugar as it contained corn
starch.
4. Cake pan – I recommend that you use a 3″ tall non-black round cake pan of 8″ (may be this cake
pan is a good fit, found in Amazon). If you cannot find a 3″ high cake pan, then replace it with a 9″
round cake pan with at least 2.5″ tall. Use a 1-piece punch out cake pan, not springform pan or any
other seamed pan.
5. Grease & Pan Lining – grease the side of the pan with butter and line only the bottom of the pan.
Do not line the side of the pan, it will cause a crumple side. This is because when the cake shrink, it
will drag the paper down and cause the crease.
6. Batter – the cream cheese batter after adding flours and before folding into meringue should be a
little warm, about 40-50 °C.
7. Meringue folding *** VERY IMPORTANT *** – folding egg white meringue to cream cheese
batter needs to be gentle to minimize the deflation of tiny pockets of air in the meringue. Make sure
both batter and egg whites are well incorporated and come together.
8. Batter filling – only fill Japanese cheesecake batter about 15mm (1/2″) from rim, if you have extra
batter (it shouldn’t be a lot left), discard it.
9. Water bath- Use a roasting pan of about 2″ high and at least 11″ dia. Place a small towel on it to act
as a thin insulation for the cake pan so that the bottom is well protected from direct heat. Fill hot
water to about 1″ high after placing the cake pan on the roasting pan and send into the oven.
10. Oven – this is crucial and very important. The temperature stated in the recipe is in-oven
temperature. Each oven is different so if you are not too sure if the temperature inside your oven is
accurate as what you have set at the control panel, get an oven thermometer to check. The brand of
 my oven is Electrolux (model EOB307X-1), it is measured with 10 °C shy, so I have to set 10 °C
higher at my control panel in order to get the required baking temperature.
11. Cool down – After the cool down period with door closed for 30 mins, I open the oven door to
remove the water bath, put the cake back into the oven and open the oven just a tiny bit (about
10mm). I use a mitten to stop the door from closing back. Removing water bath is optional but I
find that it will prevent the bottom of the cake being wet by the condensation.
12. Unmold cake – The cake pan should be able to handle by bare hand after cooling off in the oven
with door slightly open for 30 mins. Use a cake board to cover the cake pan, invert the pan and
carefully remove the pan. Remove the bottom liner and place another cake board or plate on the
bottom of the cake, invert it back. The cake should be soft and fluffy and jiggly when it is still
warm. Leave it to cool before sending it into the fridge. The final cake size after shrinkage is about
7.5″ x 3″ (highest point)
13. Cake serving – Decorate the top with snow powder or icing sugar. Cut the cake with warm knife,
wipe the knife clean before the next cut.

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