How to bake a velvety Japanese Cheesecake

The procedure

All the ingredients should be in room temperature. 

Use a large mixing bowl, place it on a pot with boiling water underneath and add the following: 

• Sweet 250g mascarpone, 100 ml milk, 50g butter, mix well until all the ingredients combine and the butter melts. Set aside to cool down and mix in 6 egg yolks,

• Pungent add a pinch of ground ginger, 

• Salty a pinch of salt, 

• Sour juice and zest of 1 lemon, 1/2 cup of wheat flour, sieved, 

• Bitter a pinch of turmeric, 

• Sweet 1 tablespoon of potato starch. 

Mix everything gently until all the ingredients combine. 

In a separate bowl, using hand mixer beat the whites with a pinch of salt. Add in several batches 3/4 of a cup of fine caster sugar until the whites are firm.

Now, VERY GENTLY add the whites, bit by bit, to the cheese mixture stirring delicately with a spatula. 

Use a baking tin of about 22-24cm in diameter, line it with baking paper (see photo) on the inside, and wrap around with tinfoil on the outside. Pour gently the mixture into the baking tin and place it in a bigger heatproof bowl or a dish filled halfway with boiling water. 

Bake in a preheated oven at 200ºC (no fan) for 15-17 minutes. Turn the temperature down to 140ºC and bake for another 30 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave the cake in for another 30 minutes. Take it out and leave to cool down to room temperature before slicing. This is the most difficult bit because Japanese cheesecake tends to disappear before reaching room temperature. Nevertheless, it really tastes better the next day with Turmeric Latte or Lemon Balm Green Tea.