Japanese Cotton Cheesecakes for 2 birthday girls

I baked 2 Japanese Cotton Cheesecakes over the last 7 days for 2 birthday celebrations in my family - one for the most senior member in my family i.e. my dearest mummy for her 64th birthday and the other is for the youngest member in the family i.e. my baby niece for her 1st birthday.

Japanese Cotton Cheesecake #1: This is for my mum - a simple, no-frill cake for a simple but strong woman.

Japanese Cotton Cheesecake #2: This is for my little niece - decorated with strawberries and shredded white chocolate that are sweet and appealing to her.

 

Both cakes are not so nicely decorated but they are baked with full blessing from the bottom of my heart. For both cheesecakes, I followed the recipe from The Little Teochew, her cotton cheesecakes looked really nice and cotton-like. Mine still have a lots of room for improvement. 

Japanese Cotton Cheesecake

Ingredients

• 140g fine caster sugar
• 6 eggs, separated
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 50g unsalted butter
• 1 block (250g) cream cheese
• 100ml fresh milk
• 60g cake flour
• 20g corn flour
• 1/4 tsp salt

Methods

1. Preheat the oven at 160°C. Place 2 bowl-oven proof bowls of water at the bottom-tier of the oven (as an alternative to water bath the cheese cake).
2. Lightly grease a 8-inch springform cake pan and line with baking paper on the bottom and sides. The paper for the sides should be higher than the cake tin by about 1.5 inches.
3. Melt cream cheese, butter and milk over a pot of simmering water. Set aside to cool
4. Combine the flour, cornflour, salt, egg yolks. Add into the cooled cream cheese mixture and mix well. Sieve the batter using a wire mesh sieve to remove any lump to get a smooth batter.
5. Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Add in the sugar over several batch and whisk until soft peaks form.
6. Add the egg whites to the sieved cheese mixture and fold well. Pour into a springform pan.
7. Bake cheesecake for 1 hour 10 mins or until set and golden brown at 160°C.
8. Leave to cool in oven with door ajar, about 30mins to 1 hour. Sudden changes in temperature may cause the cake to cool too quickly and collapse.

Take a peek at the internal-appearance of the cake below. The soft and light-texture will make you wanting to take an extra slice, without much guilt :P