Nine Clouds Japanese Cheesecake and Tuaca Strawberry Sauce

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I’m not saying I’m a world expert, but in my opinion Japanese Cheesecake is the best kept secret in the realm of cake. I had no idea about it myself until I went to a randomly placed cheesecake shop on the side of a road by Lake Kawaguchico, all overlooked by that most wonderful of stratovolcanoes, Mt Fuji.

Nine Clouds Japanese Cheesecake

I don’t want to sound all 1950’s about this, but… oh my.

It’s soft, it’s light, it’s billowy, it’s Cheesecakey… it’s like New York Cheesecake which has been force-fed about nine clouds. And it will take you to cloud nine. It is nothing you thought a Cheesecake could be.

Nine Clouds Japanese Cheesecake

And I kind of think it’s funny, because really the western world is quite obsessed with Cheesecake. Why don’t we know about it? Well, I’m here to disseminate the information. Think of me as “Cakey”leaks.

Nine Clouds Japanese Cheesecake

And I haven’t even gotten to the best bit- Japanese Cheesecake is made with about a third of the cream cheese of a regular Cheesecake- which means you can have more than one slice without getting a “food baby” – and at significantly less calories. Talk about a delicious secret.

Nine Clouds Japanese Cheesecake

Japanese Cheesecake is billowy because it has a lot of whipped egg whites in it. That means you have to be gentle when you are mixing, but really it’s a doodle to make. It’s baked in a water bath to ensure that it sets without colouring too much, or cracking too much. With a little practice, you’ll wind up with a perfectly smooth top, but don’t worry, even one that looks like this:

Nine Clouds Japanese Cheesecake

will taste perfectly perfect!

And just when you thought I couldn’t make Japanese Cheesecake sound any better, I’m going to tell you that it cuts like a dream, you can hold it like a slice if regular cake in your hand (great for midnight wolfing), and it improves with age – it will keep for at least a week.

Nine Clouds Japanese Cheesecake

Serve Japanese Cheesecake dusted (think drifted) with icing sugar (if you can get “snow sugar” this will sit on the cake for days without melting) and, if you like, some brightly flavoured Berry sauce, like the Tuaca Strawberry Sauce set out in the recipe.

Nine Clouds Japanese Cheesecake

Makes a 20cm cake

ingredients 

250g cream cheese 
50g unsalted butter, soft
100mL milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
6 egg yolks
1/4 tsp salt
60g flour
60g cornflour
6 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
140g caster sugar
 
 

mixing

Line the base and sides of a deep 20cm round cake pan with baking paper – the paper needs to come up higher than the sides if the pan, at least 8 cm high. Find a larger dish to act as a water bath. It needs to be approximately 25 – 30 cm in diameter and be deep enough to hold hot water to come at least half way up the 20cm cake pan. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius.
 
Warm the cream cheese and butter in the microwave – start with about 30 seconds – and stir until smooth. Blend in the milk. Add the lemon juice, egg yolks and salt. Sift the flour and cornflour over the cream cheese mixture and blend well. 
 
Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Add the sugar in a thin stream and beat until soft peaks form. Fold a third of the  meringue into the cream cheese mixture to lighten it, then tip this over the rest of the meringue and, using a spatula, very gently fold the lightened cream cheese mixture into the meringue until just combined.
 
Pour the Cheesecake mixture into the prepared pan. Set the Cheesecake pan into the water bath pan, then place in the oven. Quickly but carefully fill the water bath with hot water (boiling water straight from a kettle is best) so that the water comes at least halfway up the Cheesecake pan, and shut the oven door. Bake the Japanese Cheesecake for 1 hour and ten minutes. The Cheesecake should be golden brown and set. If the top cracked, you may have over mixed the mixture, or the oven might have been too hot.
 
Let the Japanese Cheesecake cool completely in the pan. To turn out, tip the cold Cheesecake onto one hand, the flip back onto a serving plate. Refrigerate until ready to serve. 
 

Tuaca Strawberry Sauce

Makes approximately 2 cups

ingredients 

2 1/2 cups strawberries, quartered
3 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp orange juice
3 tbsp Tuaca liqueur 

mixing 

Place 1 cup of the strawberries, the sugar and orange juice in a saucepan and heat gently until the strawberry juices start to run. Cool. Add the remaining strawberries and the Tuaca. When cold, puree until smooth. 

Nine Clouds Japanese Cheesecake

Enjoy!xxx

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