Japanese cotton soft cheesecake

Original recipe by Christine recipes

Ingredients

• 250ml milk
• 250g cream cheese, cubed and softened at room temperature
• 60g butter, softened at room temperature 
• 6 egg yolks
• 55g cake flour (see tips below on how to make cake flour)
• 20g corn flour
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 6 egg white
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 130g sugar

Method

Preheat will oven to 150C

Pour the milk into a bowl. Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Be careful the bottom of the bowl don't touch the water. Add the cream cheese and stir occasionally until completely dissolved. Stir in the butter until completely dissolved too. Remove from heat. Leave to cool. Once cool, add in the egg yolks and combine well.  (Make sure the mixture is not too hot otherwise you will end up with scramble eggs)

Combine and sift  cake flour and corn flour. Add flours into the cream cheese mixture, a small amount at a time. Mix well between every addition, and make sure there aren’t any flour lumps. Stir in freshly grated zest. Set aside.

Place egg whites in a large clean bowl. Use an electric mixer to beat the egg whites for 3 minutes, then add cream of tartar and blend again. Pour sugar in the egg whites and blend until very stiff peaks form. 

Fold-in the egg whites into the cream cheese mixture gently with a rubber spatula just until all ingredients are incorporated. (Do not stir or beat.) For a better result, fold in egg whites with a small amount at a time, at least for 3 times. 

Pour the mixture into the two baking pans. Place the pans into another larger baking tray. Add hot water in the tray up to half way. Bake for about 50 to 60 minutes. Test with a needle or skewer that comes out clean.

Turn off the oven. Leave the oven door ajar for 10 minutes so it can cool down a bit. Remove from the oven and remove from the pans. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Chill in a fridge for about 3 hours or overnight.

What I learned
Do not fold too hard or it will not be soft. When you line the baking tin do not make it over lap or the cake will be uneven and it will leave rough parts in the cake. Also do not make creases when lining or the cake will leave wrinkles and lines. For the meringue do not over beat it or it will be hard or it will make it too hard to fold.