Soft Cottony Japanese Cheesecake

Today's baking was like no other time. I didn't pre weight my ingredients. It was bake in a spur of moment BUT I took it all slow and steady. I got the recipe at the beginning of the week and I thought I wanna attempt it on Wed evening because I took half a day off to rest but of course, that didn't materialize. This recipe was adapted from Diana's recipe book. I have long wanted to try my hands on a soft cotton japanese cheesecake. It first caught my attention about 10 years ago when Joyce my friend, introduced this Tiffin cheesecake (if memory serves me correctly, the name should be Tiffin). I'm very selective of cheesecake because I'm not a cheese person. Sometimes the smell even puts me off. However, I just couldn't get enough of this particular soft cotton cheesecake she bought for me.

The instructions from the recipe required a double boiler which I don't have one at home. What I did was placing a bowl in the wok with water & cook over slow fire. The heat from the water and fire from the stove had me perspiring all over and my body was all heated up. It took me quite a while, standing there and stiring the ingredients in the bowl until they were fully melted. Once the baking time was up, I left the cake in the oven for about 15 mins before opening the door slightly ajar. Mistake. Big mistake. I should've just leave the cake in the oven for an hour or more WITHOUT leaving the door ajar because the cake has shrunk considerably just because I did that.

Amidst all this near disaster, the cake really lives up to its name. The cake was as soft as cotton. It's moist, of course and I coudn't help wondering whether I should omit the lemon juice. I went ahead with the lemon juice because I was worried the overpowering smell and taste of cheese will put me off. I love this cake. I'm gonna bake this again next week because I have another bar of  philadephia cheese which will expire soon. And you can be sure that this time, I'm not gonna repeat the same mistakes I made this time. Try it out and let me know of your outcome. By the way, I know the picture sucks. Taken with my handphone at midnight :)

Ingredients :

140g fine granulated sugar
6 egg whites
6 egg yolks
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
50g  butter
250g  cream cheese
100 ml  fresh milk
1 tbsp. lemon juice
60g cake flour /superfine flour
20g cornflour (cornstarch)
1/4 tsp. salt


Instructions:

1. Melt cream cheese, butter and milk over a double boiler. Cool the mixture. Fold in the flour, the cornflour, egg yolks, lemon juice and mix well.

2. Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Add in the sugar and whisk until soft peaks form.

3. Add the cheese mixture to the egg white mixture and mix well. Pour into a 8-inch round cake pan (Lightly grease and line the bottom and sides of the pan with greaseproof baking paper or parchment paper).

4. Bake cheesecake in a water bath for 1 hours 10 minutes or until set and golden brown at 160 degrees C (325 degrees F).

Makes 1 (8-inch) cheesecake.

My cooking tips :
1. It is important that you do not overbeat or under beat the egg whites. Beat till soft peaks form
2. I cover the top with an aluminium foil to prevent it from browning at the top at early stage. I remove the foil 10 minutes before the baking time is up
3. I reduce the baking time from the recommended 1 hour 10 mins to an hour. Know your oven well.
4. Leave the cake in the oven for an hour after the baking time is up. This is to prevent the cake from collapsing from the sudden change of temperature.