Sakura Hanjuku Cheesecake

 

Ingredient

Method

300g Cream cheese, soften 40g butter, melted 3B Egg yolk  20g Cornstarch 80g Sour cream 50g Milk 30g sakura powder 3B Egg white 75g Granulated sugar 5ml lemon juice/rice vinegar topped: 5-8 salt pickled sakura flowers

1. Line the 6-7" pan with parchment paper. Make it so that the paper sticks out about 1cm over the edges. Cut a circle out of parchment paper to place in the bottom. Preheat the oven to 170°C. 2. Place cream cheese into a bowl and use a whisk to cream it. Add the melted butter to the cream cheese in 3 batches. Combine well. 3. In a separate bowl, add the egg yolks and sifted cornstarch. Mix together until it's no longer lumpy. 4. Add sour cream to Step 3 and mix well. Add in the milk and combine well. 5. Pour Step 4 bit by bit into Step 2 and combine it well. Once it has been evenly combined, strain through a strainer 1-2 times. 6. Add the egg whites, lemon juice and granulated sugar to a clean bowl and whip with a whisk until soft peaks form. If you whip it too much, it will separate when baked, so be careful! 7. Add 1/3 of the egg whites to Step 5. Mix it in using cutting motions by scooping up from the bottom of the mixture. Add the rest of the egg whites and combine with a rubber spatula equally while keeping the air bubbles intact. 8. Pour into the cake pan and gently shake to even out the surface. Place the pan on a baking tray. Pour water into the tray until about 2cm up the sides of the cake pan. The cheesecake will be baked in this double boiler type setup. 9. Cover the bottom of the cake pan with aluminum foil or place it on stainless steel plate so that water doesn't leak in. A plate about 1 size larger than the cake pan works well. 10. Place into the oven. Lower the temperature to 160°C and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, topped with pickled sakura flower and send back to oven and continue to bake for another 55-60 minutes until it has turned golden brown and elastic, or until tester comes out clean.  11. Leave in the pan until it cools. It will be soft so it falls apart easily. Once cooled, remove from the pan with the parchment paper. 12. Cover with plastic wrap and let it chill in the refrigerator for 1 day.