Souffle Cheesecake

I made a souffle cheesecake for the first time today and I'm so glad how good it turned out. The cake tastes and looks really good! Except for those numerous toothpick marks I left in the center. I kept inserting toothpicks into the cake because I was checking to see if it was done or not. >.< It was my first time making this cake so I was unsure!

Souffle cheesecake is also known as Japanese or cotton cheesecake. It tastes different from a New York Style cheesecake, because the NY style one is richer, denser, and sweeter. The souffle cheesecake has a texture between a cake and a cheesecake, having a simple but flavourful taste. My souffle cheesecake has a sponge cake layer at the bottom. I think it improves the whole thing one notch.

The image below shows this same souffle cheesecake I made about one to two years later, but in a bigger oven instead of the old microwave-sized one. The cheesecake below turned out fluffier and the top browned very evenly. An oven with good convection makes so much difference. Improved skills such as in slicing the sponge cake layer evenly also makes a big difference. Haha.The flowers in the photo I randomly picked from the front of our house. >.<

SOUFFLE CHEESECAKE (Yields one 8 inch cake)

Ingredients

FOR THE SPONGE CAKE BASE

-3 room-temp. eggs

-100g white granulated sugar

-90g all-purpose flour

-20g melted butter

FOR THE CHEESECAKE

-250g room-temp., mild cream cheese

(Note: I used spreadable cream cheese because block ones aren't available in my region. So I got 400g of spreadable, mild cream cheese, squeezed the water out in a cheesecloth, and got 250g of firm cream cheese.)

-45g powdered sugar

-3 room-temp. egg yolks

-160g plain yogurt

-20ml milk

-1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

-30g all-purpose flour

-3 egg whites, cold

-45g granulated white sugar

Instructions

FOR THE SPONGE CAKE

To prepare, line an 8 inch springform pan with parchment paper.

1. Fill a large bowl with hot water. Place a smaller bowl filled with eggs on top of that.

2. With a whisk, whisk the eggs until foamy. Remove from hot water.

3. Add the sugar in 3 additions and whisk for 1 minute (by hand) after each addition. Whisk in this method as it is most effective: Tilt the bowl to the side. Use the whisk to rapidly to beat the eggs in a looping action, taking the whisk out of the egg mixture and plunging it back in.

4. If needed, whisk the egg mixture for 1 more minute. The finished mixture, when lifted with the whisk, should leave a trail and be thick.

Preheat your oven at this point to 180 degrees C.

5. Sift in the flour and fold it in gently but rapidly. Only fold until barely incorporated.

6. Take a spatuful of the egg mixture and plop it into the melted butter. Stir until incorporated and pour it back into the bowl holding the egg mixture. Fold everything in just until fully incorporated.

7. Pour the batter into the prepared springform pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

8. Remove the springform and peel off the parchment paper from the sides of the sponge cake. Let it cool a while before removing the bottom (parchment paper and cake pan base).

9. Place the finished sponge cake on a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.

FOR THE CHEESECAKE

1. With a bread knife, slice out a 1.5cm wide layer of cake from your cooled sponge cake.

2. Line your 8-inch spring-form pan with parchment paper. Place the sliced layer of sponge cake on the bottom of the pan. Also wrap the bottom of the springform pan with a double layer of aluminum foil.

3. Add cream cheese into a large bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until creamy. Add the powdered sugar and stir until creamy and incorporated. Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl constantly.

4. Add the egg yolks and switch to using a whisk. Whisk by hand just until well-incorporated. Add the yogurt and whisk until smooth.

5. Add the milk and lemon juice and whisk until the mixture is smooth again with no lumps.

6. Sift in the flour and whisk until incorporated with no air pockets of flour in the mixture. The finished mixture should be smooth, shouldn't have lumps, and should be considerably thick.

Note: We've simply mixed the ingredients until incorporated since a we don't want too much air incorporated into the eggs. Preheat your oven at this point to 160 degrees C.

7. In another bowl, add the cold egg whites and get out your hand-mixer. Beat until foamy. Add the granulated white sugar and beat until soft peaks form.

8. Fold in (with a spatula) the egg white meringue into the cheesecake batter, in two batches. ONLY mix until incorporated.

9. Pour the batter into the prepared pan with the sponge cake layer at the bottom. Tap the springform pan lightly on the counter a few times.

10. Prepare a water bath by placing a deep baking pan in the center rack of the oven and filling it with boiling water.

11. Place your springform pan on the baking pan holding the hot water. Bake for about 30-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, maybe with some tiny moist crumbs. The surface of the soufflé cheesecake should be browned.

Note: While baking, the cheesecake will crack a little. But those cracks will close up while cooling as the cheesecake shrinks a bit, which is normal. So don't worry! Just make sure you don't leave too much toothpick marks while trying to check if it's done, like I did. :)

12. With the oven door open a crack, cool the cheesecake in the oven for 30 minutes to 1 hour to prevent sinking.

13. Take the cheesecake out of the oven and remove the springform. Peel off the parchment paper sticking on the sides.

14. Cool the cake at room temperature until completely cool and refrigerate a few hours. Remove the bottom (parchment paper and springform pan base) and transfer the cake to a serving plate. Enjoy with fresh strawberries!

Recipe adapted from a Korean cookbook named 진짜 기본 베이킹 책 by super recipes. http://www.super-recipe.co.kr/etc_06/etc_s4_01.php?inc=view&idx=130&tbname=notice