Cotton Soft Japanese Cheesecake

Dessert: 15-Mar-2011

This cheesecake really lives up to its name... being very very soft & cotton-y....  :-)  Its texture is more like a light sponge cake, not the heavy baked or refridgerated cheesecakes...


Recipe obtained from Diana's desserts website.

Ingredients: 50g/2 oz. butter  250g/9 oz. low fat Philadelphia cream cheese  100 ml/3 fluid oz. low fat fresh milk or full fat (35%) cream (I preferred using lactose free low fat milk but for a more creamy texture, use full fat cream) 140g/5 oz. raw caster sugar 1/4 tsp. salt  1/4 tsp. cream of tartar 6 egg whites  6 egg yolks 1 tbsp. lemon juice  60g/2 oz. cake flour /superfine flour  20g/1 oz. cornflour (cornstarch)

Note: I used Anchor Lighthouse cake, biscuit & pastry self-raising flour. This is a specialty flour that makes cakes much lighter as it contains less protein.  Admittedly, I have not tried using normal self-raising flour, and so don't know if it makes a huge difference. I might do that one day when I'm desperately wanting to eat this cake and have run out of this flour but can't be bothered to go out to buy a box of it... LOL! Instructions:  1. Melt cream cheese, butter and milk over a double boiler. Cool the mixture. 2. Whilst mixture is cooling, in a separate bowl, mix well, egg yolks and lemon juice. Add cooled cream cheese mixture to egg yolk mixture. 3. Fold in the flour and the cornflour into the yolk mixture. 4. Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Add in the sugar and salt and continue beating until egg whites are stiff & glossy. 5. Put 2 - 3 spoons of egg white mixture into egg yolk mixture & mix well. Egg yolk mixture should lighten & not be as heavy. 6. Gently fold in 1/2 of egg yolk mixture into egg white mixture until well mixed. Gently fold in remaining 1/2 of egg yolk mixture into egg white mixture until well mixed. 1 slice is never enough! Yum! 7.Pour into an 8-inch round cake pan (Lightly grease and line the bottom and sides of the pan with greaseproof baking paper or parchment paper).  8. Bake cheesecake in a water bath for 1 hour 10 minutes to 2 hours or until set and golden brown at 160 degrees C (325 degrees F).  Note: I tried & it works, putting into a approx 23cm with paper lined base, non-stick round cake tin & baking at 170C in a water bath for about 1.5 hours... hence lessening the baking time - nice! For a nice variation, add 1 tbsp black sesame seed powder. Makes 1 (8-inch) cheesecake, 12 servings.

Cotton Soft Japanese Cheesecake