Japanese Cheesecake

I love cheesecake. Love. But only when I get them in the store. When I bake one at home, it comes out delicious, but they're so dense that by the time I polish off a slice, I'm already tired of it and can't take anymore. Enter the Japanese cheesecake, the only kind of Cheesecake light enough for me to eat more than a slice. The secret is that instead of using whole eggs, you separate the egg yolks from the whites. The whites are whipped until stiff, and then folded into the batter in order to achieve the light and airy texture. Yum.

JAPANESE CHEESECAKE

Recipe from Jo Cooks

Ingredients: 

• 10.5 oz cream cheese
• 3 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• 2/3 cup milk
• 3 egg whites
• 1/4 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350F. Separate eggs so that you have a bowl of yolks and a bowl of whites. Place the whites in the freezer until it just starts to freeze around the edges.

In a large bowl, heat the butter and cream cheese slightly until softened, then whisk to combine. The instructions said to use a double broiler...but the defrost setting on the microwave worked fine for me.

In a separate bowl, mix together the egg yolks, 1 Tbsp sugar, and cornstarch. 

Boil the milk, then stir in the egg yolk mixture. Whisk bowl over boiling water on the stove (double broiler setup) until thickened. Add cream cheese mixture and mix well.

Add remaining sugar to the bowl of egg whites. Whisk using a mixer until soft peaks form. 

Gently fold the egg whites into the cream cheese mixture. Transfer mixture into a springform pan, which has been wrapped on the outside with plastic foil. Place springform pan into a cake pan or rimmed baking sheet and pour hot water into the outside pan. Place in oven and bake for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 300F and continue baking for 25 minutes. When it's done baking, turn off the heat but leave the pan in the oven for an additional 40 minutes.

While my cheesecake was baking, I threw in some blackberries and sugar into a saucepan (no measurements) and cooked for 5 minutes on medium heat to make a compote. All that juice is from the sugar drawing out liquid from the berries.

Let the berry mixture cool in the fridge

When the cheesecake is done in the oven, allow it to chill completely in the fridge overnight. This is an exercise in self control.

Slice and top with berries when ready to serve :)