September 23, 2016
Fabulous Friday Flavour: Japanese Cotton-Soft Cheesecake
My eyes have been wandering…to the nooks with crannies in fuelling my addiction to pinterest.
It’s a great place to discover recipes. With great food photos, one is very easily distracted, not to mention tempted!My recent discovery has been the very light cheesecake – somewhat a cross between sponge cake, a souffle as well as a pound cake. If that even makes sense.
Anyhoooo…because I usually find the traditional cheesecakes too heavy, I haven’t had the desire to make them for a while. So, I thought this would be a good alternative to try out. From double boiling to whisking egg whites, then ever so gently folding it into a batter…
There’s really something about that which brings me such satisfaction. I absolutely love whisking egg whites process when those egg whites start forming soft peaks – the main reason why this cheesecake turned out fluffy…pillowy…cottony soft! It’s not perfect, but I’m satisfied.
Why is it called “Japanese Cheesecake” though,I haven’t got a clue. I supposed that’s where this cake originated from (or not).
Honestly, I would not have the balls to try out this fluffy thingie had I not stumbled upon Jeannie’s Blog for the recipe along with the various experiments she has done with the different temperatures for that perfect cake. Thank you, Jeannie!
- 125g cream cheese (I used a generic brand found in local supermarket here)
- 3 eggs, separate yolks, whites
- 35g super fine (or castor) sugar
- 30g unsalted butter
- 50g low fat milk, cold (you can also use full cream milk)
- 2 tspn freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 30g flour, sifted
- 10g corn flour, sifted
- Salt (slightly more than a pinch)
- 2 tspn vanilla extract
- Half tspn potassium acid tartrate**
- 35g superfine (or castor) sugar
- Pre-heat oven to 200 degree celsius. It is recommended that you use top and bottom heat without the fan.
- Line the bottom of a 6-7 inch (I used 7 inch) round cake pan with wax paper. Grease the sides with baking spray. Set aside
- On a heated stove, prepare a double boiler (water in a pan over heat with a bowl over the pan. Make sure the bowl is steady)
- Put the butter, cheese, sugar into the double boiler. Use a hand whisk to whisk till all is soft; making sure the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat. Set aside
- Add in the cold milk. Whisk everything together
- Then add in the yolk, one at a time. Make sure the mixture is cool enough as you would not want a scrambled egg yolk in the mixture
- Whisk until smooth then add vanilla, salt, lemon juice. Whisk again
- With the same whisk, fold both corn and regular flour into the mixture till fully combined. Set aside
- in a separate bowl with a whisking machine, whisk the whites at low speed till foamy. Make sure the bowl is clean and dry
- Add potassium acid tartrate** Whisk at high speed. When the bubbles appear smallish, gradually add in sugar
- Whisk the mixture till it forms a soft peak
- Still using the same whisk, gently fold the whites into the batter prepared earlier with one-third portion at a time.
- With the last third of whites, switch the hand whisk to a plastic spatula. Continue to gently fold in till smooth
- Pour the batter into the round pan prepared earlier. Tap the pan to release the bubbles (I dropped the pan from a height of 3-5 cm)
- Prepare a water bath for your round pan. Bake for 17 minutes at 200 degree celsius then reduce the temperature to 135 degree celsius for another 30 minutes till the top gets brown.
- Switch off the oven. Leave the cake inside the oven for about 15-20 minutes
- Remove from the oven.Wait for a few minutes if the cake has not pulled away from the pan
- Otherwise, use a thin spatula to ensure that the cake has pulled away from all sides. Remove from the mould. Invert to peel off the paper from the pan
- Then invert it back to cool
- Cut the cake with a serrated knife. Serve!
- Temperatures, timing need to be adjusted to your own oven. The temperatures which I have used above worked well for a big oven.
- ** You just need to be careful that the water from the water bath does not get into the tray (when using the detachable type) or the cake gets really soggy!
Now, come follow me to #FiestaFriday as I share this fluffy baby with some friends over there.
This post is in conjunction with Stomper Dad’s Taboo Challenge by not using the words “AND” and “OF” for today.This was hard! How does one write a recipe without these 2 crucial words? Especially when I have potassium acid tartrate as an ingredient and I cannot mention it in its easiest form known to human! Join in the fun as well and add your link to take part in the challenge!
**WTF is potassium acid tartrate
I saw a recipe for this once before and have wanted to make it. It really sounds and looks so delicious. Light and airy and delicious. I saw a recipe for it on Fae’s Twist and Tango, she used to live in Japan. Your cake turned out beautifully.
Make it, make it, Suzanne! You won’t be sorry. It is absolutely delish and I just love how light it is. I’m certainly on a roll with this one and trying to muck around with other flavours. 🙂
There it is! I was waiting for this recipe since I saw the picture on your Instagram. Mmmmm, my mouth is watering already!
I promised to put the recipe up, so here it is! So light…every single bite sorts of melt in your mouth…soooo good!You could have been my guinea pig! hahaha! But now, you just gotta make it yourself and let me know! :p xoxo.
I will! I think I’ll make it next weekend when our kids come for lunch. Do you have a serving suggestion, like with fruit, syrup, etc.? I’m sure it is just delicious on its own, though. Mwah!
Yayyy! I’m sure your kids would love it. 🙂
For me, it tasted good as it is without anything else. But hmmm…it kind of look naked without a serving suggestion, isn’t it? I suppose adding whipped cream and some berries or fruit syrup could work very well. Try it…it might just taste better! 😀 x.
I’ll send you a picture of it on Instagram when I make it 😀
Looking forward to it!!! xoxoxo
I have heard of this and was very curious so it was so nice to come across your post today! It sounds lovely! Happy FF!!
Mollie
Thank you, Frugal Hausfrau. It’s nice to see you here, too! 🙂
I have tried Japanese cheesecake before and it was really good! So I know for sure that this is superb!
I’d say the best kind of cheesecake ever! Thank you for stopping by, Jhuls! 🙂
Sometimes a single work can evoke an image and cotton soft just makes this cheesecake sound so light and fluffly.
I hope the image could evoke an action for you to bake one! 😉 Thanks for stopping by Johanne!
Oh, that cake!! It looks so soft and fluffy!! Are you sure you added cream cheese?! 😄 Just kidding, I’m sure you did. I just couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw how fluffy that cheesecake is. I think I need it give it a try. Thanks for sharing at Fiesta Friday!
Cream cheese all the way, Angie! Swear to god. LOL. Try it, try it! thanks for stopping by! 😀
Baking it right now. I hope it’ll turn out OK, because I thought I can get away without buying corn flower for only 10 g that is needed….then I read the recipe at Jeannie’s blog and someone noticed in the comments below it’s meant to be corn starch (which I have)! Ah…too late…or I’m going to have to bake a second batch because of the language barrier 🙁
I saw! I saw! Your IG first then this comment. LOL. It looked beautiful with your figs and strawberry decorations, Jas. Did you like the taste and how it turned out? ohh..the softness… makes me want to bake again! 😉
Did your 1st one went completely off without the corn flour/starch?