Japanese Cotton Cheesecake

1 June is Children's Day in China. On this day, all the kids will get a day off. The mothers in my company will receive a little goodies bag just for their kids. Most of the mothers (in fact, nearly 98%) have only one kid due to China's strict policy on family planning.

This year, I am not in China and I have a kid. I miss Shanghai. So a cake is baked. :D

I got the recipe from Small Small Baker again who got it from Leisure Cat.

Since this is meant mainly for Hubby and my consumption, I thought that a nice sweet lovey dovey decor would be nice and did a few cut outs with the baking paper before placing them on the cake during the last 5mins. Unfortunately, my dense Hubby didn't get it at all and was commenting what funny "W" or bird-like shapes I created on the cake! So much for effort.

The water bath method worked well for me this time round. Previously water seeped in and making the cake very marshy at the bottom. This time round, to save washing, I simply stuffed baking paper into the tin. The cake baked well but cracked slightly again. Maybe my oven is really too hot.

The cake was smooth, soft and moist. As cottony as its namesake. Again, we finished it in just one afternoon. Happy. :D

Japanese Cotton Cheesecake
(6-inch round tin with removable base)

Ingredients
100g cream cheese
64g milk
22g unsalted butter
13g plain flour
7g corn flour
2 egg yolks
2 egg whites
43g sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar


Method

1. Preheat oven to 170 deg Celsius
2. Line cake in with parchment paper or grease tin.
3. Cut cream cheese into small cubes and soak the cubes in milk for 30mins.
4. Melt butter in a metal plate over a hot water bath (saucepan filled with simmering water) and set aside.
5. Put the cream cheese and milk mixture over a hot water bath. Stir until there are no visible lumps.
6. Add the melted butter into the cream cheese mixture. Combine and remove from heat.
7. Sift flour and corn flour into the mixture.
8. Add egg yolks and combine till smooth.
9. Beat egg whites till foamy. Add cream of tartar. Beat and add sugar gradually till soft peaks are formed (I beat them till medium stiff peaks)
10. Pour into lined or greased tin.
11. Knock tin slightly on table tap to remove large bubbles.
12. Bake in water bath for 15-20mins till cake surface has a slight color change. Then set temperature at 150 deg Celsius and bake for another 40mins. For the last 10-15mins, cover cake with a piece of aluminum foil when the desired browning has been reached on cake surface.