The ingredients for this Japanese cheesecake recipe are are similar to regular cheesecake, but with a few important changes:
cake flour: if you don’t live in America, cake flour is low protein flour, usually about 8%-9% protein
corn starch: not corn flour. corn starch is used to get the protein content down even further to make the cake as light and fluffy as possible
cream of tartar: cream of tartar helps stabilize the egg whites, which are whipped into a meringue. Cream of tartar can be hard to find depending on where you live, so if you don’t have it but you’re pretty good at whipping egg whites to soft peaks, you could skip it. You can also order it online.
How to make Japanese Cheesecake
Make the cream cheese batter: The cream cheese is melted over a double boiler so that it gets extra smooth and creamy. When it’s melty, mix in the butter, milk, egg yolks, and a bit of sugar.
Sift in the flour and cornstarch: After everything is smooth you sift in the cake flour and cornstarch.
Whip the egg whites: This is the part that is key. It’s not too difficult, especially if you’ve made meringue before. Just whip up your whites to about soft peaks.
Mix: Gently fold together the whites and cream cheese batter, being careful not to deflate the whites too much.
Bake in a water bath: Japanese cheesecake is a bit delicate so you’ll need to bake it in a water bath with a kitchen towel underneath so that it doesn’t contact direct heat in any way.
Cool: If you like, you can remove it from the pan once it’s cool enough to touch and do the jiggly shake that I’m sure you’ve seen on the internet. Otherwise, just let it cool very slowly then you’re ready to eat!
