Japanese Cheesecake - Delicious

Whatever you want to call this cheesecake, it is fantastic. I call it a Japanese Cheesecake because the texture is like those that are advertised as Japanese Cheesecakes from the bakeries. Having never been to Japan, I don't know if their cheesecakes are like this one, but if they are, I'm going to eat lots of them.

I read about this recipe from Ellie of Kitchen Wench, who had in turn read about the recipe from Anh of Food Lover's Journey. Both Ellie and Anh say they love the cake, and for good reason I found out. Anh wrote that it is perhaps the best cake she has ever baked. Well, I brought one of the cakes to work and one work mate said that it was the best cake he had ever eaten. That's a big call.

This cake is definitely very different in how it is prepared to how it tastes. It's so light that it goes down so easily that you find yourself finishing a whole piece before you know it. This was one of the fastest disappearing cakes ever. Having baked it on Thursday, it was all gone by late Friday.

I won't bother re-writing the recipe. Just go to either Ellie or Anh's blogs and you have full instruction there. All I can say is that you must make it, it tastes great. Just a final note, the recipe requires cake flour. I had no idea what this was either. But a commenter on Ellie's post wrote that you can buy it in Safeway or Coles nowadays. It is called "Cake, Biscuit & Pastry Flour”, made by Anchor. It's a blue box for the plain variety. This flour is described as some triple milled flour with this and that. I can't remember half of it, but it's suppose to give a light texture to cakes and biscuits made with it.

I don't like black sesame that much so just added a little. I couldn't really taste the sesame and don't really know if you even need it. It's up to you what flavours you like and what to add. I think it tastes great without any added flavours.


EDIT: I've decided to post the recipe in case other people's blogs go down but mainly so its all easier to find when I want to make this recipe again myself.

Japanese Cheesecake

Ingredients

250g cream cheese
50g unsalted butter
100ml cream (35% milk fat)

60g cake flour
20g cornflour
6 egg yolks
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt

1tbp black sesame powder

6 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
140g castor sugar

2-3 tbsp of fresh milk

Method

* Melt cream cheese and butter over a double boiler. Whisk to combine. Set aside to cool. Add the cream and whisk to combine.
* Meanwhile, line and grease the base and side of a 8-inch spring form cake pan. Preheat oven to 160C (fan-forced)
* Sift the cake flour and corn flour to the cheese mixture. Add in egg yolk, lemon juice, sesame powder and salt. Gently whisk to thoroughly combine all the ingredients. At this stage, if your mixture is a bit too stiff, add in 1-2 tbsp of milk. The mixture should be similar to your normal cake mixture.
* Whisk egg white with cream of tartar until foamy. Add sugar, tablespoon by tablespoon. Whisk until soft peak forms (don’t whip the egg white too stiff, the cake will be likely to crack).
* Add 1/3 of the egg white to the cheese mixture to lighten it. Then, gently but thoroughly fold the egg white to the cheese mixture. Be careful not to destroy all the air bubbles in the egg white.
* Gently pour into the prepared pan. Using foil, wrap the outside of the pan. Put the cake pan into a roasting pan. Add boiling water to half-way of the cake pan.
* Bake in the oven for 1 hour 10 min or until the cake is set.
* Take out, leave in the pan to cool. Serve at room temperature.