JAPANESE SOUFFLÉ CHEESECAKE (日式芝士蛋糕)
Source: adapted from Diana's Desserts
((Recipe for one 18 cm cake)
80 ml milk
40 g butter, at (tropical) room temperature, cut into small pieces
140 g full-fat cream cheese block, at (tropical) room temperature, cut into small pieces
50 g cake flour, sifted
15 g cornstarch, sifted
⅛ tsp salt
mix evenly with sifted cake flour and cornstarch
75 g egg yolks
2 tsp lemon juice
180 g egg whites
90 g caster sugar
Measure and prep ingredients as detailed above.
Preheat oven to 180°C (355°F). Put kettle on. Line 18 x 6 cm round cake pan, with parchment paper extending above top of pan by 2-3 cm.
Heat milk till hand-hot. Add to butter and cream cheese. Mix evenly. Add egg yolks and lemon juice. Mix evenly. Sieve, twice so that mixture is silky smooth. Add cake flour, cornstarch and salt. Mix till just even.
Whisk egg whites till big bubbles become small. Continue whisking whilst adding sugar gradually. Keep on whisking till egg whites form soft peaks.
Add egg whites to yolk mixture in 3 batches. Mix till half even after each of first 2 additions, then till just fully even after third addition. Bang mixing bowl against worktop 3-4 times, hard, to remove big air bubbles.
Pour batter into cake pan, slowly so that big air bubbles burst as batter flows out of mixing bowl.
Reboil water in kettle. Put cake pan in a bigger pan. Fill outer pan with boiling water to about half-way up sides of inner cake pan. Reduce oven temperature to 170°C (340°F). Bake in bottom of oven till top of cake is golden brown and inserted skewer comes out with some crumbs attached, about 1¼ hours.
Remove cake from oven. Leave on wire rack to cool down completely. Unmould by inverting onto a plate. Discard parchment paper. Invert onto another plate so that cake is right way up. Cut with serrated knife by moving blade either forward or backward, i.e. do not saw. - See more at: