Japanese “Cotton” Cheesecake

This cake is so light, so fluffy, so melt in your mouth with yummy cheesecake goodness that you’ll be wondering where it’s been all your life! Seriously, it’s like if a chiffon cake and a cheesecake had a baby, and we ate their baby. Damn it, we’re dingos.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup of cream (half & half)
• 8 oz cream cheese, cut into cubes and softened
• 4 TBSP butter, cut into cubes and softened
• 6 TBSP cake flour
• 3 TBSP cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp of fine salt
• 6 eggs, separated
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 3/4 cup of granulated white sugar (see notes)
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325f, and line the sides of a 7 or 8-inch springform pan with parchment paper. This cake will be cooked in a water bath that will come half way up the sides of the pan, so double wrap the springform pan in foil so that it will keep out the water. Place the foil-wrapped pan into a larger cake pan or baking pan and set aside until needed.
2. In a large microwaveable measuring jug, measure in the cream and then add the cream cheese and butter cubes. Microwave the mixture on 50% powder for 1 minute, remove and whisk. Repeat this process (50% powder for 1 minute, remove and whisk) just until you have a smooth mixture. Set aside to cool.
3. Double sift together (sift it twice) the cake flour, cornstarch & fine salt into a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixture fitted with the whisk attachment, add the egg whites and whip on medium until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and whip until foamy, then turn the mixer up to medium-high and start gradually adding the sugar a few teaspoons at a time. Keep whipping the egg whites until it is thick, glossy and forms soft peaks.
5. With a hand-held whisk, whip the egg yolks and vanilla into the cooled cream cheese mixture. Add the cream cheese and egg mixture to the large mixing bowl with the sifted dry ingredients. Mix gently with the whisk until just combined.
6. Put a pot or a kettle of water on the stove to boil, or if you have an electric kettle that will work fine too. You’ll need enough water to created the water bath for the cake.
7. Add 1/3 of the whipped egg whites to the batter in the large mixing bowl, and gently whisk in to loosen up the mixture. Then, switch to a rubber spatula and fold in another third of the egg whites gently but thoroughly, and finally the last 1/3 of the egg whites.
8. Gently pour the batter into the prepared pan. Pour the water you boiled into the outer pan, so that it comes halfway up the outside of the foil lined inner pan. Place into the middle of the preheated oven.
9. Bake at 325F for 60 minutes or until lightly browned on top. Then, turn the temperature down to 300F and bake for further 30 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Then, turn off the oven and prop the door open about 6 inches or so with a wooden spoon. Leave the cake in the oven for 30 minutes. Then, remove it from the oven and take it out of the outer pan/water bath and put it on a cooling rack.
10. Leave the cake in the springform pan on the rack to cool to room temperature. Then, remove it from the pan. Place the cake on a serving plate before removing the parchment paper from the sides. Chill the cake in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving.
11. To serve, remove the cake from the fridge at least half an hour before you want to serve it. Slice with a large sharp knife dipped in hot water and wipe the knife well for each cut -OR- use unwaxed dental floss, fishing line or wire to easily and cleanly slice the cake.

Makes 8 Servings

Notes

• To help the sugar dissolve more easily in the egg white, you can pulse it in a food processor until it is a much finer texture, but not until it is a powder. Be sure to measure the sugar before processing it.
• I don’t own any springform pans, so I use one of my loose-bottom cake pans. The only real difference being that my loose-bottom pan sides don’t pop open so I have to push the cake up from the bottom to get it out. Because I line the pan with parchment paper I don’t really notice a difference.