Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Featherlight Cheesecake

I love cheesecake but not the ones that you get at the store which I think is too heavy.  This cheesecake tastes almost like a souffle.  Very light to the tummy.  The cheese is hardly noticable.  I think it would taste much better if flavored with lemon or orange zest.  The process takes a little longer time but well worth it if you like cheesecakes that are not dense and as the name calls it.....its featherlight.  Since it does not use baking powder, the cake rises mainly by using egg whites that are whipped till stiff giving it a lot of air.




Ingredients

250gm milk
20gm butter
125gm cream cheese(room temperature)

50gm flour
3 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extractre
3 egg whites
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
80gm sugar

Pinch of salt
½ Tbsp cocoa powder
1 Tbsp boiling water


Method

  • Line the base of a 8 inch square pan and preheat the oven at 150/160C. 
  • In a medium sized bowl, cream cream cheese until smooth.
  • Bring milk and butter to a boil and pour ¼ of it into cream cheese and gently stir until incorporated. Pour in another ¼ the milk and stir again. Lastly pour in all the milk and stir until smooth. (At this point, prepare some boiling water)
  • Let the cheese mixture cool down and put in flour. Mix until smooth. Then put in egg yolks and vanilla. Mix until smooth.
  • In another clean bowl, beat egg whites until frothy. Put in salt and cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks. Put in sugar gradually and beat until stiff.
  • Put 1/3 of egg whites into cheese mixture and fold gently but quickly.
  • Pour the cheese mixture into the egg whites and fold until well incorporated.
  • Mix cocoa powder with boiling water until smooth. Put in a few tablespoons of the cheese batter and mix until a smooth chocolatey batter is formed.
  • Pour main cheese batter into prepared pan. Drizzle chocolate batter over main cheese batter.
  • Use a knife and cut through the batter to create a marbling effect.
  • Put pan into slightly bigger but shallower pan. Fill the bigger pan with boiling water until halfway up and bake for 50-60 minutes.
  • When cake is baked, remove from oven and release the sides of the cake from the pan immediately by running a knife between the sides of the cake and the pan. Leave it to cool down totally and chill until cold before cutting.

2 comments: