Ingredients
250ml milk
250g cream cheese, room temp
65g butter, room temp
7 eggs, separated
58g cake flour
23g corn flour
133g sugar
1.5 tsp goma paste
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp salt
Method
1) Prepare the cake pan but buttering the sides and bottom. DO NOT BUTTER THE SIDE of the non-stick pan. Add the parchment paper to the bottom. Take a roasting tray that the pan can just fit into. Place a thin towel at the bottom so that the pan doesn't slip around. Set aside.
2) In a smaller bowl, mix the cocoa with the hot water until a smooth paste forms.3) In a saucepan on a very low fire, melt the cubed cream cheese. Add the butter and melt. Mix these together and they will look as if they've split. Pour on the milk and blend into a smooth mixture. If necessary, sieve to get rid of lumps.4) Beat the yolks with half the sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the cream cheese mixture and whisk until smooth.5) Sift the flours and salt. Sift them onto the cream cheese mixture and use the whisk to fold in. Ensure no lumps.
6) Add the goma paste and combine with a whisk until no big chunks of paste remain.7) In a very clean bowl, beat the egg whites until opaque and foamy. Add the sugar in three batches and beat on low so that only small bubbles are created. Periodically scrape down the bowl. Once all the sugar has been added, add the lemon juice. Turn up to high and beat until just after soft peaks but just before stiff peaks.7) Take a third of the meringue and put it in the yolk mixture. Mix until no white remains. take the second third and this time, very gently fold in with a whisk. Pour this mixture back into the remaining third of the meringue. Very carefully fold in until no whites remain but be careful not to burst all the foam.8) Drop the pan on the table top a few times to dispel the bigger bubbles. Use a skewer to trace around to burst the bubbles but try not to mix up the colours.9) Bake at 160 deg C for 30 minutes, 140 deg C for 43 minutes, and then switch off. Leave it in the oven for 25 minutes with the door closed.
10) Take it out of the oven and remove the water bath. Drop the tin from a height. Run a spatula around the edge to dislodge so that the cake doesn't tear and crack.
11) Put cake back in the oven without the water bath to sit with the door ajar for 25 minutes.
12) Must chill overnight, this is important if you want to cut the cake without tearing or cracking.
Recipe feedback
90% success! No cracks! No sinking! No waist finally!
The only unhappiness is that the cake didn't rise enough, only 2 inches tall. I used fresh eggs and beat to stiff peaks so maybe it's because
- the goma paste is very thick. The next time I will use finely ground goma instead
- I was less careful with folding and using the whisk to incorporate because the stiff peaks made it harder to incorporate the meringue
- At this point I'm happy though because it tasted good (a tad on the sweet side because the paste is sweet in itself) but tastier than normal lemon flavour cheesecake
- The eggs seemed smaller than normal, even though these were 60g eggs.
