Japanese Cheesecake 日式芝士蛋糕

Cheesecake is an all-time-favorite dessert in my household. It's easy to prepare, can be both baked or unbaked and the sky is the limit when it comes to cheesecake combination (graham cracker crust/sponge cake based? with chocolate or with fruits or with anything, basically). The only down side is of course one has to be patient to wait for cheesecake to chill in the fridge before it's ready to be served. 

   

Japanese cheesecake, despite the name, has a much different texture than ordinary rich dense cheesecake. It relies on the emulsification of cornstarch and egg to have a cotton-fluffy-milky and smooth spongy texture. Japanese cheesecakes are also lighter in flavor is considerably less sweet.

While baking modern American cheesecake's trick is not to have a cracked top, baking Japanese cheesecake's secret lies in how to prevent its top from shrinking/sinking after cooling. The recipe is adapted from Christine's Recipe.

Ingredients:-
(makes a 11cm*25cm square pan)

125 ml fresh milk (full cream preferred)

125 g cream cheese (room temp)

30 g unsalted butter (room temp)

3 large eggs (separate into whites & yolks)

10 g cornstarch

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

75 g granulated sugar

1 tsp fresh lemon peel
55 g cake flour (or use 45 g all purpose flour + 10 g cornstarch as substitute)

Methods:-

1. Sieve the flour & cornstarch mixture a few times until they fully combined, set aside. 

2. Warm milk over a bain marie (double boiler), then add cream cheese and butter. Stir and make sure the mixture is well mixed. Remove from heat and let the mixture cool down.

3. In a separate bowl, beat egg white until foamy, add cream of tartar. Beat with hand mixer or stand mixer until incorporated, then add sugar in 3 additions until stiff peak form (the mixture should look glossy and when turn up-side-down, will not fall off from bowl).

4. Preheat the oven to 150 degC and line the baking tray with baking paper. Fold in the flour, the cornflour, salt, egg yolks, lemon juice and mix well.  

5. The cream cheese mixture should be cool enough to handle now, add in the egg yolks and whisk to combine. Then sieve in the flour mixture in 2 additions, make sure the mixture is well combined. Add in the lemon peels and mix well to combined.

6. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the meringue into the cheese mixture in 3 addition until incorporated. Do not over fold else the cake will deflate. Pour the mixture into baking tray and bake at the lowest rack over water bath for 70 - 75 minutes or until set (when a toothpick inserted comes out clean) and the cake top golden brown. 

7. When the cake is done, do not remove from oven. Turn off oven but leave the oven door ajar and let the cake cool in the oven for 10 minutes to prevent too much change in temperature that could result in sinking cake top. 

8. After 10 minutes, remove the cake from oven, remove from cake form and let it cool over counter top for 30 minutes, then place in the fridge and chill for at least 3 hours prior to serving. Enjoy!

Note: If the cake browns too quickly, then cover the top loosely with aluminium foil and/or reduce the oven temperature (but also adjust the bake time accordingly). The cake can also be baked in 8" round cake form with double portion, just adjust the baking time accordingly. 

日本芝士蛋糕虽然是用芝士烘焙，吃起來卻一點油腻的感覺也沒有。柔軟細緻幼滑，像棉花糖般的口感，不太甜也不太膩，一个不小心，很容易一口接一口的不停吃下去。如同所有芝士蛋糕，日本芝士蛋糕最好是冷冻后才吃。

其實做這蛋糕並不难，懂得打蛋白和拌蛋白就成。另外就只求蛋糕表面不下陷。 :)

材料：
125 毫升 鲜奶
125 克 忌廉芝士（cream cheese，置室溫軟化）

30 克 牛油（置室溫軟化）
3 粒 蛋 （蛋黄和蛋白分开）

55克 低筋面粉 （或用45克普通面粉加10克玉米粉代替）

10克 玉米粉
1个 檸檬皮蓉（只黃色部份）
1/8 茶匙 塔塔粉 (cream of tartar) 或 1茶匙檸檬汁
75 克 幼砂糖 

做法：
1. 先把低筋粉和粟粉拌勻，篩两三次至混合均匀。

2. 把牛奶倒進一大盤中，放在小鍋熱水上用小火加熱，盤底不接觸熱水。当牛奶温热时，加入忌廉芝士，時不時搞拌，直至沒有粒粒和平滑。然后加入牛油，拌至完全溶解。把盤移離小鍋，待放涼些。

3. 把蛋白放入一個乾淨的盤中（註：一定要沒有油和沒有水份）。用電動搞拌器把蛋白打至起泡，加入塔塔粉。繼續搞打，分三次加入幼砂糖，打至蛋白尖峰挺立而不下垂（可參考這video）

4. 預熱焗炉至 150C (302F)。焗盤預先鋪上烤盤纸（baking paper）

5. 把蛋黃加入摊凉的芝士混合物中，拌勻。把面粉混合物分三次篩入芝士混合物中，每次務必拌勻，確定沒粉粒。拌入檸檬皮蓉，成麵糊待用。

6. 用橡皮刮，把蛋白霜分三次拌入麵糊中（可參考video）。且忌过分搅拌，会导致蛋糕不能膨胀。

7. 将混合物倒進焗盤中。置入另一個大焗盤。倒進半滿的熱水，小心放入焗炉中最低的炉架上，焗約70 - 75 分钟。用針或竹籤插進中央，如沒麵糊黏著，表示蛋糕熟透。熄火，打開焗炉門几吋裂縫，待多 10分钟。

8. 10 分钟后，取出蛋糕，脫模在铁架上放涼後，置入冰箱中冷藏三小時，即成。

由於每個焗爐的溫度不同，要自行因應調節。如果不确定该烘多久，那就以50分钟为起点，然后在加上每5 - 10分钟分段调节。如果你的蛋糕在40分鐘已經很快上色，或是表面膨脹太高，表示焗炉溫度太高了，就要調低一些，或用鋁箔紙鬆起地蓋著，並以防鋁箔紙黏去蛋糕表面，影響賣相。

可改用一個 8吋的圓形焗盤，自行調較烤焗時間。