Japanese Cotton Cheesecake

I bought cream cheese while it was on offer some time ago. Better quickly use it up. It had been a long time I last bake a cheesecake and I'm craving for one! I'm sticking to a trusted recipe by Alex Goh. I remember I saved a photo of the recipe from the book... BUT I can't find it! Have been keeping too many recipes everywhere and never organize. Anyone has this problem? Haha!

It's ok. I think can easily find the recipe online. :)

Some bakers might have faced problems when baking this cheesecake. I have this phobia too! Scared it will crack, scared it will sink, scared it become dense... Although I rarely make cheesecake, I have more experience in whipping egg whites now, so that makes the task less intimidating. :)

My cheesecake turns out to be pretty good, except for a little crack. I should have stay beside the oven and turn down the temperature. There's uneven browning at the top too. Can't help because of my oven. Or is there a way to brown it nicely? Mostly importantly, it is tall and did not sink! Yeah!

Here's a slice of the cut-out cheesecake. So soft, cottony and melt-in-the-mouth. It's so good when it's chilled! Eating cheesecake is like eating durian. Either you like or hate it. Luckily I like both! Just realize 2 of my nieces are cheesecake lovers. One of them said my cheesecake tastes like the Starbucks one wor. You sure or not? Lol! :p

Japanese Cotton Cheesecake

Ingredients: (I use 6 inch round pan and use 3/4 of the original recipe in brackets)

125g cream cheese (160g)
18g butter (25g)
90g milk (120g)

30g cake flour (40g)
23g cornflour (30g)

3 egg yolks (4)

3 egg whites (4)
1/8 tsp cream of tartar (1/8 tsp), I omitted
75g sugar (100g sugar)
pinch of salt, I omitted

Preparation:

1. Grease and line the bottom and side of the pan with baking paper. Wrap outside of the pan in foil.
(I did not wrap the pan in foil as I prefer to use a normal pan instead of removable base pan.)

2. Place a tray with water at the lowest rack and preheat the oven.
(I did not put the pan in water-bath. I place the tray of water at the lowest rack and the pan at the middle rack.)

Method:

1. Place cream cheese, butter and milk in mixing bowl and double-boil until the mixture becomes thick and creamy and no lumps. Set aside to cool.
(From my experience, it's difficult to get a lump-free mixture. You can pass the mixture through a sieve to get a smooth mixture. For lazy me I just skip it as the lumps will disappear after adding the flour and eggs.)

2. Add in sifted flour mixture and whisk until combined. Do not overmix.

3. Add in egg yolks and whisk until combined. Set aside.

4. Whisk the egg whites until foamy. Add in sugar gradually and whip until soft peaks. Do not whip to stiff peak. Fold the egg whites into the cheese mixture gently in 3 separate additions.

5. Pour the batter into the pan, knock a few times to get rid of air bubbles. Bake in oven at 160C for 45 minutes until the top is golden brown and skewer inserted is clean.
(I bake at 160 deg C, lower to 150 deg C once I spotted crack on the cake, should have reduced earlier. Total baking time is 35 minutes for my 6 inch cake.)

6. Off the oven and leave the cake in the oven with the door slightly ajar for about 30 minutes. Remove the cake from pan, remove the baking paper and further cool down before chilling in the fridge.
(I did not remove the cake from oven immediately to prevent the cake from sinking quickly.)

Adapted from：Fantastic Cheesecake by Alex Goh

I am submitting this post to "My Treasured Recipes #1 - Alex Goh (June/July 2014)" hosted by Miss B of Everyone Eats Well In Flanders and co-hosted by Charmaine of Mimi Bakery House.

Playing with sushi

I know nothing about making sushi and I have never thought of making it too.

It happens that my mother is making sushi today and there are some leftover sushi rice. So I thought why not try it. An impromptu decision and without any knowledge or any ingredients, I just jump in for the fun of playing around with sushi.


You know what's the quickest way to learn how to make a Tamago Sushi? Search the YouTube! I type in "Tamago Sushi" and several videos are found and I just learn how to make the japanese type of omelette from there.

It's neither nice-looking nor delicious (cos I don't even have some of the ingredients), but it's just for fun! :)

Japanese Cheesecake

22 September 2007




This has been in my recipes-to-try list for very long and I finally have the chance to make it. I have to admit that I'm quite fearful that I will not succeed. There are quite a few steps in the procedure which involves double-boiling, whipping the egg whites, folding them back into the cream cheese mixture and baking in a water bath. All seem to be complicated and time-consuming. And the fear that the cheesecake will sink after baking, the problem that is common for cheesecakes.

I took nearly 3 hours to complete (starting from weighing the ingredients to the end of baking), checking every steps to make sure that everything is right. The final product is so much better than what I expect. The colour is nice and it is moist, cotton-soft and fluffy. I really like this cheesecake very much. It is the best cake that I have made so far, despite some mistakes I made. Can't wait to try it again!

Problems that I have met during preparing:
1. Heating the cream cheese and milk. Took quite some time to dissolve the cream cheese. Some tiny lumps of cream cheese still remained but I just went on.
2. Whipping the egg whites. I overbeat the egg whites until stiff. I was too careless and forgot to stop and check. Resulted in difficulty in folding the egg whites into the cream cheese mixture, and end mixture was not smooth enough.

Shall keep these in mind when I bake it the next time.

Recipe from Leisure Cat

Ingredients (8 inch round) (refer to website for 3 and 2 eggs quantity)
200g cream cheese
128g milk
43g unsalted butter
26g cake flour
14g cornflour
4 egg yolks
1/4 tsp lemon juice
4 egg whites
86g sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Method
1. Cut cream cheese into small cubes and soak in milk for 30 minutes. Melt the unsalted butter over hot water.
2. Place the bowl of cream cheese and milk mixture over double-boiler (do not heat directly). Keep stirring until the mixture is thick and no lumps are left. Add the melted butter and mix well. Remove from heat to cool.
3. Sift in the cake flour and cornflour, mix well. Add the egg yolks and mix well. Add in the lemon juice and mix well (if needed). Make sure the mixture is smooth. If there are still tiny lumps, pass the mixture through a sieve.
4. Beat the egg whites until foamy. Mix in the cream of tartar. Add the sugar gradually in 3 portions while whipping until soft peaks form (when the mixer is lifted, it should form a sharp point with a slight curve downwards at the end).
5. Add the egg white mixture into the cheese mixture in 3 separate additions, fold in gently until just blended.
6. Pour the batter into a greased and lined tin. Drop the tin onto the table a few times to knock off the air bubbles. Bake in a water bath at 170C for 15-20 minutes until the cake surface shows a slight colour change. Reduce the temperature to 150C and bake for another 40 minutes. Over the last 10-15 minutes, take note of the colour of the surface. Cover with aluminium foil if the surface brown too fast. (I bake for 30 minutes only at 150C for a 6 inch cake.)
7. Remove cake from the oven. Remove cake from the mould and leave on the rack to cool.

My mother makes sushi

5 August 2007

My mother makes sushi on Sunday. These are vegetarian sushi cos she's a vegetarian. She uses japanese cucumber, carrots, eggs, vegetarian ham and vegetarian meat floss as ingredients. This is her 3rd or 4th time doing sushi I think. Still not quite good at rolling the sushi. But it still looks great to me. :)