Matcha Cheesecake

I am truly blessed to have an awesome friend, May Sia, who is a school mate of mine since kindergarten. She stood in line at 7 a.m. to buy me a Japanese cheesecake the last time we met up and it was no doubt one that I will never forget. It tasted really good and as usual, good food is never enough...so I went on to make one for May and many more for my boys. Matcha is a variation from the original.

 Matcha Cheesecake

Ingredients:-

(A)

140 g granulated sugar

6 egg whites at room temperature

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

(B)

6 egg yolks at room temperature

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

(C)

50 g butter at room temperature

250 g cream cheese at room temperature

100 ml fresh milk

(D)

40 g all-purpose flour

40 g cornstarch

1 tablespoon matcha (green tea) powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Method :-

1. Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees F.

2. Ligthly brush the inside of a round, 8 inch spring form pan with canola oil and line inside bottom and sides with parchment paper. Cover the outside bottom of the pan with double layers of aluminium foil to prevent water from seeping into the pan when placed in the water bath. Set aside.

3. Using a double boiler or place a large heat proof bowl over a pot of simmering water, place all ingredients (C) in the heat proof bowl and melt them until forms a smooth paste. Once done, turn off heat and remove bowl and set aside to cool.

4. When ingredients (C) is cooled, add ingredients (B) and mix well. Then sift ingredients (D) over the bowl and stir until well combined. They will form a smooth cheese batter and if there are lumps, pass the cheese batter through a sieve to remove lumps. Set aside until egg whites are ready to be incorporated.

5. Using another large and very clean bowl, place egg whites in (A) and beat using a wire whisk until there are small bubbles. Add all of the cream of tartar and sugar little by little while continue beating until egg whites turn into a soft peak and all sugar is incorporated. When whisk is lifted, the whites should form something like an eagle's beak at the tip and the meringue should look shiny and smooth. This process should take about 15 minutes.

6. Spoon about one third of the meringue into the prepared cheese batter and fold lightly until well incorporated. Continue until all meringue is folded completely into the cheese batter.

7. Pour cake batter into the prepared pan. Tap cake pan several times to remove large air pockets in the batter and place cake pan in a hot water bath. Then place the whole thing into the oven and bake for 1 hour 20 minutes. Turn off oven when done and open the oven door slightly and set a wooden spoon over the door to keep door slightly open. Leave cake to cool inside for another 30 minutes before taking it out to prevent shrinkage or cracks.

8. Remove from pan and serve. Refrigerate if there are any left overs!

Enjoy!