Japanese Cheesecake

Japanese Cheesecake
Home Cooking



I'VE BROKEN YET ANOTHER CAMERA.

It's official. My history with electronics is POOR. Very, very poor. My 2 previous ones were destroyed from being waterlogged in the kitchen. This recent incident involved me pushing my camera off the kitchen bench. This is usually not a fatal accident (I would know since I do it quite often) but this time, the lens were out and got knocked a bit. As a result, it screwed up the mechanism that shifts the lens in and out. Bye bye zoom function. No hope of focusing on anything besides a set 'x' distance away from the camera.



I got into a frenzied panic and immediately researched and paid for another one online. Within 2-3 hours, my purchase was finalized. I'm now waiting for it to come in the mail. I call THAT impulse buying.





My camera met its fate whilst I was baking a cake. It was real bad timing because the fall occurred just before the finished product. So my final piccies were taken by my iPhone. I have a lot of great things to say about the iPhone but for photo quality, I much prefer a proper point-and-shoot device.

I decided to bake this cake because mum bought one a few weeks back and everyone quite liked it. Japanese cheesecake is a bit like a cross between a cheesecake and sponge cake. The texture is quite light and it's great for people who don't eat cheesecake normally because they think it's too creamy/rich/sweet. I used the recipe from here but divided it by 2 for my version (below) because I didn't have enough cream cheese at home for the full quantity (I used more than 1/2 the quantity though...). In terms of caloric intake, you're better off with this recipe than a standard NY baked.

Japanese Cheesecake
Makes 2 small ones (serves 3-4)

Ingredients:

• 70g package cream cheese
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 egg, separated
• 2 heaped tbps white sugar
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 and 1/2 tbsp plain flour
• 3/4 tbsp cornstarch
• whipped cream, strawberries and kiwi to decorate

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celcius. Line 2 small cake pans with baking paper. I used a mini loaf pan and a mini spring-form pan
2. Warm the cream cheese and milk in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until cream cheese is melted. Remove from the heat and set aside.3. In a medium bowl, beat the egg yolk and half of the sugar (i.e. 1 heaped tablespoon) until light and fluffy using an electric mixer.4. Fold the cream cheese mixture into the yolks.
5. Sift in the flour and cornstarch, and stir until blended.
6. In a separate bowl, using clean beaters, whip egg white with cream of tartar until it can hold a soft peak. Gradually sprinkle in the remaining sugar and continue whipping to stiff peaks.7. Gently fold egg whites into the cream cheese mixture.8. Pour into the prepared cake pans.9. Place the pans in a larger dish and pour boiling water into the baking dish until it is half way full. Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven, then reduce the heat to 150 degrees Celsius. Continue to bake for 10 more minutes. Let the cake cool before removing from the pan.
10. Run a knife around the outer edge of the cake pan, and invert onto a plate to remove the cake. Peel off the parchment paper and invert onto a serving plate so the top of the cake is on top again.11. Decorate by layering the cake with whipped cream, filled with chopped fresh kiwi and strawberries. Spread more cream over the top and present additional fresh fruit. Serve immediately.

Fruit layer

Covered in cream

Final product

The only complaint I got about this cake was "it's much too small". Dad wouldn't believe that I made it myself, rather than buying it from an Asian bakery. It was perfectly light with a hint of cream cheese in the texture. The cake itself wasn't very sweet and worked really well with the whipped cream and fruit.

Cross-section

Best of all, the recipe isn't that hard to follow, especially if you have an electric beater. Aside from the cream and cream cheese, the remainder of the ingredients are standard pantry supplies.

I will definitely be making this one again, only in a larger size next time.