Whoosh, I’m so happy with this Japanese Cheese Cake finally after fine-tuning and fine-tuning. Tested many times, no bubbly yolk batter, no kueh or dense layer and no cracks. Nice cottony texture too 🤗.
I’ve been trying the few famous recipes but with little success. Most of the times I get a kueh layer at the bottom and the yolk batter gets really bubbly. After the umpteenth time, I tried reading Taiwanese recipes and then fine tuned the ingredients and the steps from there. The trick is really to match the yolk batter with the meringue in terms of texture, consistency, and even temperature. Once the 2 can combine, half the battle is won and you just need to bake it well. I hope my recipe will help those with the same issues.
Recipe (6″ round tin, double for 8″)
Yolk batter
- 125g cream cheese (Philadelphia block cream cheese cut into cubes)
- 80g milk
- 20g caster sugar
- 30g butter
- 3 egg yolks
- 30g cake flour
- 10g corn starch
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Meringue
- 3 egg whites
- 50g caster sugar
- 1/8 tsp cream of tartar (don’t omit)
Method
1. Start with placing milk, cream cheese and sugar (20g) in a mixing bowl on top of a pot of water and double boil. Once the water boils, turn off the flame and let the bowl sit on the pot of hot water while you prepare the other ingredients.
Next step is to take out the eggs from the fridge while cold and separate them. Then let the whites and yolks sit on the counter top so they can be near to room temperature when you are going to use them. Then move on to prepare other ingredients.
2. Line all sides of a 6″ tin, don’t use loose bottom tins. Grease with oil first so the baking paper can stick on properly. Next, prepare a 8-9″ round cake tin with 1 cm deep of room temperature water. Weigh out the other ingredients. Preheat oven to 145 deg C.
3. The cream cheese should have softened by now and the mixing bowl will be hot to touch. Using a hand whisk, mix cream cheese mixture till evenly combined and sugar has dissolved. Lift bowl off the hot water pot, then add in the butter and mix well.
4. Ensure the mixture has cooled to just slightly warm (use finger to check), then add in yolks one by one and mix well after each addition.
5. Add vanilla extract.
6. Add flour and use the hand whisk to fold. Fold till no dry flour, don’t be too worried about over mixing as there’s too little flour and water to form much gluten. Set this aside.
7. Next the meringue. Beat egg whites till foamy with mixer then add the cream of tartar. Do not omit cream of tartar as you need a really really stable meringue.
8. Add sugar in 2-3 batches and continue to beat till soft peak.
9. Add 1/3 meringue to yolk batter and use hand whisk to combine.
10. Pour this mixture back into the rest of meringue. Switch to spatula to fold till no white streaks.
11. Pour batter slowly at a height into the lined 6″ baking tin.
12. Place tin into the tin with water and place both into oven (water bath).
13. Bake at 145 deg C for 75 – 90 min. The cake should rise very slowly.
14. After time is up, remove water tin, place the cake in the off oven with door slightly ajar for another 20 min.
15. The cake will shrink slightly and this is normal. Unmould when it feels cool enough. Chill before serving.
Olady Bakes 
Hi.. This recipe without lemon juice?
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Yes, no need for lemon juice.
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Nice recipe
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Sent from my iPhone
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Thanks!
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If add matcha powder, like 10g, how to add just the proportion of other ingredients?
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If only 10g matcha powder, you can simply add, or you can reduce the corn flour slightly.
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Hi i have been reading your posts. Thank you for sharing your recipes and tips. Can i check what is the size of the eggs do you use? 65g with shell? Does it make a difference in the egg size to be used?
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I use 60g with shell. Yes egg size makes a difference. Jumbo eggs can be 70g or more and add a lot of fluids to the batter.
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Hi, can I use fan forced mode or just upper and lower heat? Many thanks 🙂
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Upper and lower heat to bake this.
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Thank you for the recipe. I baked twice & it turned out👍
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So glad to hear!
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Wow love this recipe. Thanks for sharing with step by step instruction😍
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Thanks.
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You are welcome dear😍
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Hi,
Thanks for the recipe! I tried out and since I didn’t have any cream of Tatar I used lemon juice instead. And I lined the pans above the rim. And after 50 min, the cake already rose well above the rim with lots of cracks. I checked and it was done, so I turned off heat and took out the water bath. After 10 min I took out as it collapsed a lot. What could have been wrong? I know my oven is quite accurate, may be turn down the oven after 30 min of baking to 140C? And line the pan just to the rim?
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Maybe the meringue is still too stiff, need a very soft meringue. Can try a lower temp, by 10 deg C.
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Also, as mentioned, don’t omit the cream of tartar.
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Hi! I just tried your recipe. I did exact steps but my cake did not rise very high and the top still has very light yellow colour after baking. The height did not go beyond the 3 inch mold and it even deflated after the 20mins in the off oven. I did this cake recipe many times and the meringue and final batter seems right. It just never really rise, dome and brown like your final product. Can you advise what may be wrong? Hope you can help. Thanks!
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Hi! I just tried your recipe. I did exact steps but my cake did not rise very high and the top still has very light yellow colour after baking. The height did not go beyond the 3 inch mold and it even deflated after the 20mins in the off oven. I did this cake recipe many times and the meringue and final batter seems right. It just never really rise, dome and brown like your final product. Can you advise what may be wrong? Hope you can help. Thanks!
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I think it’s probably a difference in our ovens, you might need to experiment a little with rack position and then increase your temp by 5-10 degrees. My oven sounds hotter than yours. The end product does not rise a lot, this is correct.
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May I know what cause the bubbling of the yolk batter and how can I prevent it? Thank you.
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From recipe – The trick is really to match the yolk batter with the meringue in terms of texture, consistency, and even temperature. Once the 2 can combine, half the battle is won and you just need to bake it well.
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Thank you! Will try it soon. ☺️
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Good luck!
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Hihi, i keep getting the dense layer at the bottom. Any idea what might be the problem?
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The mixing of the yolk batter and meringue is not complete, also the meringue is also breaking up and unable to hold the cake, so some of the yolk batter sinks to the bottom.
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I have the same issue 3 times. Kueh at bottom. I was told I did not fold complete so i folded more. Ended up with the same kueh issue.
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Not always a folding problem, over folding can cause more meringue to deflate and yolk batter sink even more to the bottom forming the Kueh. The two mixture must combine well. This is a delicate recipe.
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