Matcha Japanese Cheesecake

Are you craving for some Japanese cheesecake? I'm not a fan of cheesecakes especially American cheesecakes as I find them too rich and has a strong cheese fragrance. However, when I was a young girl, I was first introduced to this Japanese cheesecake and I fell in love with it instantly. It is one of my favourite cake as it is light and airy, almost like eating a chiffon cake. I've tried other brands of Japanese cheesecake but my personal favourite is still Miki Ojisan No Mise Cheesecake. Whenever I'm near Raffles City, I cannot resist buying a box that was priced at below S$7 then. Not many folks in my family like this cake but that's alright as I can easily finish 1/2 the cake all by myself ;-)

The first time I baked a Japanese cheesecake was in 2006 and it was well received by DH and DD1, until one day, no one in the family except me eats the cake. It was a sign for me to stop baking this cake :P

I've been looking for matcha (green tea powder) recipes to utilise my 2 cans of matcha in my fridge. When I saw this Green Tea Cheesecake by Precious Moments, I wanted to give it a try.

I've got a really bad crack on the cake, I suspect it's because my oven temperature is too high.

This cake will shrink after baking but I'm glad it didn't shrink too much and I still have a tall cake :-)

All packed up, ready to be given away. One for SL, one for my inlaws and the balance for my family.

Original recipe calls for 6 eggs but my cake pan can't take 6 egg whites so I used only 5 eggs. I've also reduced the sugar slightly as we don't have sweet tooth.

Matcha Japanese Cheesecake

Ingredients

(A)

250g Philadephia cream cheese

50g butter

100ml fresh milk

(B)

60g cake flour

20g corn flour

1 tsp matcha (green tea powder)

*sifted together

(C)

5 egg yolks

¼ tsp salt

(D)

5 egg whites

¼ tsp cream of tartar

120g fine granulated sugar

Method

1. Melt (A) in a double boiler. Cool the mixture.
2. Fold in (B) and (C), mix well.
3. Whisk egg white with cream of tartar until foamy. Add in the sugar gradually and whisk until stiff peaks form.
4. Fold in 1/3 of the whites into the yolk mixture using a rubber spatula till incorporated.
   Pour the mixture to the remaining egg whites and fold in gently till incorporated.
5. Pour into a 8” round cake pan (lightly grease and line the bottom and sides of the pan with greaseproof paper).
6. Bake cheese cake in a water bath at preheated oven of 160C for 40 mins, reduce temperature to 150C and bake for another 40 mins or till cake is golden brown and until skewer inserted to centre of cake comes out clean.