japanese cheesecake

A lot has been happening lately, and that includes a lot of baking.

To begin with, my exams have occupied most of my week, so despite having a small bundle of recipes to post and reflect upon, I have to limit myself to one for now. And that would be the earliest of the batch, the Japanese Cheesecake.

Famous for its soufflé-like texture and light taste, I figured it'd be a nice treat to make for my family, since all save mother bird and I lack sweet tooths. The procedures it calls for are a bit more complex, such as double-boiling mixtures and baking the batter in a roasting pan with water, but we managed to make due, mother bird and me.

 

I think what I liked the most about this cake was that it was airy and spongy. It wasn't as dense or heavy as, say, a New York-style cheesecake. The absence of a crust makes it even lighter. The taste is somehow more delicate than an American cheesecake and frankly, it's addictive. Taking a lick off the fork once I'd finished using it to pry a slice out of the pan for mother bird to try was all it took to persuade me to have a slice of my own, even though I'd told myself I shan't.

 

Well, that's what cakes do.

This cake happens to be especially good at doing it.

 

 

 

JAPANESE CHEESECAKE

cake -

(recipe adapted from Jo)

• 10.5 oz cream cheese (I used one 8 oz. package + 2 tbsp)
• 3 tbsp butter
• 3 egg yolks
• 3 egg-whites
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 2/3 cup milk 
• 1/4 cup sugar

directions -

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and prepare a cake pan with parchment paper.
2. Beat the egg-whites and place in the freezer to chill.
3. In a large bowl, melt the butter and cream cheese and whisk to combine. (This can be done in a double-boiler - that is, placing the butter and cream cheese in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of boiling water on the stovetop - or, as I did, in the microwave by ten-second intervals.) Your objective in this step is not to get a liquid, melted mixture. It'll be soft and slightly fluffy.
4. In a separate bowl, mix the egg-yolks, 1 tbsp of sugar, and cornstarch. Set aside.
5. Heat the milk over the stove until it comes to a boil. Careful - milk rises fast when it reaches a boil!
6. Add it to the egg-yolk mixture from Step 4. Place it in a double boiler/heatproof-bowl-over-boiling-water-on-stove and whisk until it thickens.
7. Add this mixture to the cream cheese mixture in Step 3 and combine well.
8. Remove the egg-whites from the freezer. The edges should be frozen. Scrape them into a new, clean bowl and add a small amount of the 1/4 cup of sugar. Mix on medium speed until a soft meringue forms.
9. Add 1/4 of the meringue into the cream cheese mixture in Step 7 and mix to combine. Add the remaining meringue by gently folding it in with a rubber spatula.
10. Fill the prepared cakepan and smooth the top with the spatula.
11. Place the cake pan into a roasting pan and add boiling water until it comes approximately half an inch up the cake pan.
12. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 and reduce the heat to 300 for the next 25 minutes. When the top turns slightly golden, turn off the oven and let it sit inside for another 40-60 minutes.
13. Take the cake out of the roasting dish and place it on a wire rack to cool. Refrigerate the cheesecake and chill it completely before taking it out of the cake pan.

saturday's cake

So this is Saturday's cake.

Mother bird and I stopped by Safeway on the way home from paying her bills at Sears so that we could pick up some blueberries - I also bought bread flour, on Averie Sunshine's recommendation, and now I am so keen to try those bread recipes I've been compiling into a heap of what once was wasted space in my foodgawker favourites file. (In actuality, though, it remains wasted space until I find yeast...)


As soon as I decided the cake was cooled, I drizzled on the lovely glaze and I cut myself a slice and had a bite and scalded my tastebuds and had to sit and rest and watch mother bird cut herself a slice and have herself a bite, but she liked it, and that's enough to please me.

I was worried about this cake, to be honest. I thought it might be dry, like some coffee cakes, but I had no reason to doubt it, because there was a fair amount of sour cream in this cake, and most avid bakers are aware that anything like sour cream or yogurt will moisten a cake a fair amount.




In all honesty this isn't what I would tout as a world-class achievement. It tasted much better the morning after when the blueberries had cooled and the cake had firmed and the glaze had kind of melted into the crumb. I liked it a great deal the morning after, but not so much right out of the oven, which is probably a peculiarity for baking.
One thing this cake does have going for it, though, is its texture: it's very soft. My favourite bit of the cake is the streusel drizzled with honey - it really lends a sweet taste to the tart blueberries. (Should blueberries even be tart? I think it might just be because they're out of season, but breakfast cake should never be out of season.)

 

 
The texture of the cake was a nice surprise, being very moist and so soft. It wasn't quite like sponge cake, but it was a nice chew to combat the crunch of the crumb and the tartness of the blueberries was balanced well by their warmth and the vanilla honey glaze. Ever since I discovered a blueberry vanilla muffin at Phil & Sebastian's, I've been thinking that blueberry and vanilla are flavours that ought to go together naturally. (And the proof is in the cake.)

Blueberries, vanilla, butter crumb and honey is a delightful combination and I'm glad I found it. The cake might not be the prettiest thing to grace this blog, but I reckon further down the line I might try another swing at these flavours, or maybe I'll just redux this entire recipe.