Japanese Cheesecake

I started by separating the yolks from the whites of the eggs while cold. I then removed the butter and cream cheese from the fridge and let them go up to room temperature alongside the eggs. 

I covered the outside of the pan (bottoms and side) with 3 layers of aluminium foil. I did that because later the pan will bake in some water, and I wanted to make sure there is a good layer of separation between the pan and the water. I brushed the inside of the pan with some butter. I then cut a 9 inch round parchment paper and stuck it on the bottom of the pan; and stuck another piece of parchment around the inside. I made sure to keep a lot of excess to top of the pan. 

I beat the egg whites in a stand mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, then on medium low another 30 seconds until I saw some foam. I then added the cream of tartar and increased the speed to medium high. I slowly added 1/4 cup of the sugar as I mixed. I kept beating the mixtures until I got to the soft peaks stage.

In a large bowl, I used a hand mixer to whisk together the milk and cream cheese until I had a smooth mixture. I then mixed in the butter, the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar, the lemon juice, and lemon zest and mixed everything together. After they all mixed together, I added my flour and cornstarch and mixed until well combined. I finally added the egg yolks and kept mixing until the mixture became smooth. 

I then added a third of the egg white mixture in the large bowl and gently folded them together. I repeated this process twice, until everything is well combined. I tried to be as gentile as possible so that i do not deflate all the air we whipped into the whites. 

I poured the mixture in the 9 inch pan and smoothed the top with an offset spatula. I then tapped the pan on the counter about 6 times to get rid of any large air bubbles. I placed a large sheet pan on the low rack of an oven preheated to 315 degrees Fahrenheit or 155 degrees Celsius  and added about an inch of hot water to it. I then placed my cheesecake pan in the water and let it bake for an hour and 10 minutes. I then poked the cheesecake with a toothpick to test if it is done cooking. It came out clean so I turned off the oven and cracked the door to allow the cheesecake to cool down slowly. After an hour, the cheesecake has cooled enough to be removed from the oven. I removed it from the pan and refrigerated it for 4 hours before serving. I garnished it with some confectioner’s sugar on top then decorated it with some berries. I drizzled a strawberry, raspberry and cherry coulis on top. 

This cheesecake lived up to the expectations. It was soft and jiggly and tasted as delicious as it looked. 

Enjoy! 🙂