Japanese Cheesecake (again!)

3 years ago on this day, we got married.

All these years from our courtship days to dating days, and now as a married couple, you never fail to treat me sweetly.

You aren't a sweet talker.  You show me your love with actions.  You support me in whatever decisions I make and in all things I do.  Thank you Hubby!

I am blessed to have a loving hubby who helps out with the housework. On days that he knows I am burnt out, he will take over all housework and ask me to rest or just concentrate on my baking and cooking.

I am glad that I've got him - A friend, a hubby and a soulmate who willingly listen to whatever I have to say, always being my guinea pig to test and try all food I churn out in the kitchen, and enduring my naggings!

If I could have 1 wish, I wish for many more wonderful anniversary celebrations with this man.

To celebrate our day, I baked this cake that hubby likes alot - the Japanese Cheesecake.

I wanted a reliable recipe so I stuck by Rasa Malaysia's which I used in my other 2 cheesecakes posts.

Japanese Cheesecake
(Makes an 8" or 9" cake)

140g/5 oz. fine granulated sugar
6 egg whites
6 egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
50g/2 oz. unsalted butter (I used salted butter)
250g/9 oz. cream cheese
100 ml/3 fluid oz. fresh milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
60g/2 oz. cake flour /superfine flour
20g/1 oz. cornflour (cornstarch)
1/4 teaspoon salt (I did not use this as I used salted butter)

1. Melt cream cheese, butter and milk over a double boiler. Cool the mixture. Fold in the flour, the cornflour, salt, egg yolks, lemon juice and mix well. After folding this, I put the mixture through a sieve to get a smooth and lump-free mixture.

Fold in.

Pour mixture over a sieve and let it run through with the help of a spoon or spatula to get a smooth mixture.

Smooth lump-free mixture without creamcheese and flour bits.

2. Make the meringue by whisking egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. You can beat with a stand mixer or handheld mixer. Add in the sugar and whisk until soft peaks form.

3. Take 1/3 meringue and fold into the cheese mixture, then fold in another 1/3 of meringue. After incorporated, pour the batter back to the remaining 1/3 meringue and fold. FOLD GENTLY. (I scooped out 2 tbsp of mixture and added 1 tbsp of cocoa to make some chocolate mixture and scoop into a piping bag) Pour the mixture into a 8-inch round cake pan (lightly grease and line the bottom and sides of the pan with grease-proof baking paper or parchment paper). Snip off abit at the tip of the cocoa mixture filled piping bag. Try piping out on a piece of kitchen towel to test the flow before piping out your desired design on the cake.)

I painstakingly piped this out with reference from the internet. PHEW~!

4. Bake cheesecake in a water bath for 1 hours 10 minutes or until set and golden brown at 160 degrees C (325 degrees F). (Dr Leslie Tay's baking direction: Preheat to 200C (I used 220C for 30min as my oven temp is slightly lower than other oven) non fan forced. Bake for 20min. Lower temperature to 160C and bake for 10min (I did mine at 180C 20min). Turn off oven, and leave cake in oven with door closed for 30min. Open oven door slightly ajar and leave cake to cool inside for 20min. Finally, take cake out of pan and cool on rack)

Ta-daah!

Made specially for my dearest hubby.

Some Notes with reference from Rasa Malaysia:
1. I used an 8″ pan, and I lined the sides of the pan with parchment paper with the paper extending slightly higher than the cake tin by about 1.5”.

2. I left the cake to cool down in the oven with the oven door open, about an hour. This is to prevent sudden change of temperature that may cause the cake to shrink drastically. It’s normal that the cake will shrink about ½ inch to 1 inch after cooling, it’s normal. If the cake shrinks a lot, the main reason is over mixing the egg white mixture with the cheese mixture. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form, FOLD VERY GENTLY, do not stir or blend.

Pardon the lousy photo with bad lightings.

I just wanted to show the slight shrinkage of the cake when cooled slowly.

3. Refrigerate the cake (with or without the cake tin) for at least 4 hours or overnight.