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Friday, March 3, 2017

Recipe: The Most Fluffy Cheesecake Ever

Don't you just adore cheesecakes that wiggle and jiggle like a pair of uh, Jigglypuffs! Okay, I am not talking about New York style cheesecakes, which are much denser and cheesier than their Japanese counterpart. My mother loves cheesecake, but she dislikes cheese - oh, the irony. After experimenting with several recipes, I finally found one that delivers the fluffiest and moist cheesecake. Now you can enjoy homemade cheesecake (and the fun) at a fraction of the price you pay in bakeries!



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Difficulty: Easy
20 min (prep) + 1h 20 min (bake)

Yields 1 8-inch cheesecake

Ingredients

90ml whole milk, room temperature
70g cream cheese
70g unsalted butter
15g sour cream
6 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
40g all-purpose flour, sifted
40g corn starch, sifted
9 egg whites
90g caster sugar

icing sugar, to garnish


Steps

1. Preheat oven to 160C.

2. Prepare cake tin by buttering the sides and lining the bottom with a parchment paper. As we will be baking the cake in a water bath, wrap the tin with aluminium foil to avoid water from seeping in.

3. In a medium pot over medium heat, melt butter, then add milk, cream cheese, sour cream until combined. Remove from heat. You don't want scrambled eggs, so combine the egg yolks only after the cream mixture is cooled. Stir in vanilla extract, flour and cornstarch.

4. In a large bowl, you really want to get a large bowl for this, because you are whipping up 9 egg whites. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites on high speed and add in caster sugar gradually, until stiff peaks form (about 3-5 minutes). The meringue will hold its shape, and you know it's done.

5. Spoon 1/3 of the meringue into the cream mixture, whisk in until smooth. Spoon another 1/3, fold in using a wooden spoon, and repeat with the remaining 1/3. You want to fold in, as you do not want to break the air bubbles in the meringue for maximum fluffiness.

6. Pour batter into prepared cake tin, tap the cake tin on a surface to release any large bubbles.

7. Place cake tin in a water bath (e.g., a larger tray with one-inch depth of hot water). Bake for 25 minutes in 160C. Reduce to 135C and bake for another 55 minutes. If the cake is browning too fast, cover the tin loosely with an aluminium sheet.

8. Remove the cheesecake from oven and cool on a wire rack. Remove cake from tin carefully and remove parchment paper.

9. Sprinkle icing sugar on the top and serve. Enjoy!

If you would like to have the cheesecake chilled, I would recommend this recipe instead:


Nomsaurus tips: If you are using convection ovens, I would recommend reducing all temperatures by 5C and reduce cooking time by a few minutes. The temperature and cooking time are general guidelines, as every oven is different. The ideal way to know if it's done is by looking at the colour, and sticking a toothpick in to see if it comes out clean.

Adapted from: Tasty