Japanese Cotton Cheese Cake

Preparation

1. 1. Pre-heat oven to 200°C (Top and bottom heat, NO fan force) and position the oven rack to the lowest.
   2. Grease thoroughly a 8” x 3” light-coloured, round cake pan with butter, line bottom (not the sides) with baking paper. Set aside. Do not use springform pan as water from water bath seeps in easily even with an aluminum foil lined.
   3. Sift cake flour and corn flour together and set aside
   4. Separate egg whites from the yolks and set aside.
   5. Squeeze out a tbsp of lemon juice from a freshly cut lemon. Set aside.

Prepare the yolk base (TM6)

1. 1. Into the TM bowl, add cream cheese, butter and 70g sugar. Warm and blend the mixture at 3 min / 60 °C / sp 3 or until a smooth batter is obtained.

   2. Add milk, egg yolks, lemon juice, vanilla extract and salt. Mix 30 s / sp 3.5.

   3. Add sifted cake flour and corn flour and mix 20 s / sp 4, scraping down halfway through, until all the flour is fully incorporated. Repeat step if necessary (but don’t overbeat). Transfer egg yolk batter to a large bowl (approx. 5 litres size).

Prepare the yolk base (without TM6)

1. 1. Add cream cheese, butter and 70g sugar. Warm at low heat and stir with a whisk until a smooth batter is obtained.

   2. Add milk, egg yolks, lemon juice, vanilla extract and salt. Mix well with a whisk.

   3. Add sifted cake flour and corn flour. Stir well with the whisk, scraping down until all the flour is fully incorporated. Remove from heat and transfer to a large mixing bowl (recommended 5L).

Prepare the meringue

1. 1. In a big, dry and oil-free steel/ glass bowl, whisk egg whites until the mixture is foamy. You can use a hand-whisk or  cake mixer at medium-low speed or whisk by hand.

   2. Add cream of tartar and beat at high speed till bubbles become very small but still visible.

   3. Gradually add sugar and beat until you get soft peaks. Do not overbeat until stiff peaks form or the cake will not be cottony soft. If the mixture is under-beaten, the cake will sink and form a rubbery layer at the bottom.

Combine both batters and bake

1. 1. Add 1/3 of the meringue to the egg yolk batter and use a large whisk to loosen up the thick batter. Combine until an even mixture is obtained.

   2. Add another 1/3 of the meringue to the batter and use the whisk to incorporate well with gentle folding strokes. Repeat for the remaining 1/3 of the meringue. Make sure there are no yellow or white streaks in the final batter, especially the bottom. Reach all the way to the bottom of the bowl to ensure evenness.

   3. Slowly pour the batter into the cake pan to reduce trapping of big air bubbles. Tap the pan against the counter top 2-3 times to remove big air bubbles.

   4. Place the cake pan in a deep pan where water will come up to about 1" height outside the cake pan. The water bath pan should not be too big (a slightly bigger pan will suffice) as the water will absorb too much oven heat. Pour warm water (NOT boiling) into the water bath pan until the water reaches 1" the height of the cake pan on the outside (about 1/3 the height of the cake pan).

   5. Place the cake pan sitting in the water bath on the bottom-most rack of at 180 °C oven (top and bottom heat, no fan force).

   6. Bake at 180°C for 18 minutes.

   7. Lower the temperature to 160 °C  and bake for 12 min.

   8. Turn off the oven and leave cake to continue baking in the residual heat of the CLOSED oven for 30 min.

   9. Finally, open the door of the oven slightly (I press the oven door against my oven mitten to create that gap) at the and let the cake rest in the oven for another 15 min

   10.  

       Remove the cake from the water bath and oven. Let it rest on a cake rack for a further 30 minutes.

   11. Serve the cake warm or chilled (refrigerate first). 😊