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Based on this earlier post that compared various recipes, I chose the recipe that best suited my situation: to use up my 250g block of cream cheese without leftover and my 8" pan.
Base on the ingredient choice, I choose the following recipes for this reason by Christine and BakingTaiTai w(hich look suspiciously similar in terms of wording), and ieatshootpost. However in terms of method, I did not want to use cream of tartar so KitchenTigress, JOC, and Cooking with Dog were instructive. They also taught me to pour slowly from 2" to 3" height to minimise bubbles then gently 'drop' the cake with its batter to burst big bubbles. KT is especially important because she bakes the cake in the middle of the oven. However, everyone else other than Nasi Lemak Lover and KT advocate keeping the cake in the oven with door ajar to cool slowly to avoid shrinkage and cracks. However, all agree that you should only unmould it when it is cooler.
Ingredients
250ml milk
250g cream cheese at room temp, cubed
60g butter, room temp
6 eggs (21 deg C is ideal), separated
55g cake flour
20g corn flour
130g sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
Method
#1) Prepare the 8" round tin by lining with parchment and using oil to 'stick' it to the base and sides of the tin. Remember to leave a 2 to 3" allowance at the top of the tin so the mixture won't overflow. (NLL and runawayrice only uses 5 eggs for this reason). Cover the outside of the tin with several layers of foil to prevent water seepage later on. Preheat oven to 170 deg C.
2) Sift the corn flour and cake flour mixture twice. Boil the water. Heat milk hot to the touch.
3) In a medium bowl, beat butter and egg yolks using a whisk. Beat the cream cheese in. Add vanilla, milk and lemon juice and mix smooth.
*4) Using the whisk, whisk in the flour in 3 batches till no lumps of flour remain. Strain mixture and set aside.
5) In a very clean bowl (no oil, soap, or water), beat egg whites on low speed until foamy and opaque. Add sugar in 3 batches. Once all the sugar has been added, increase to max speed and beat till stiff peaks (double in volume and glossy) which takes about 4 mins. It is best to underbeat and stop to check then repeat at 30s intervals because once the meringue are over-beaten, they cannot be used. Beat to just before stiff peaks.
@6) Using the whisk, fold in 1/3 of the meringue to the yolk/flour batter and break up the egg white. You can whisk and not worry about breaking the foam. Use the whisk and add another third of the meringue to the yolk/flour batter but carefully break up the foam. Finally, return the entire batter to the bowl with the remaining 1/3 meringue and fold in carefully using a spatula. Alternatively, you can continue to use the whisk to fold in by scooping then lifting action from the bottom. Turn the bowl as you do this.
7) Pouring slowly from a height of 2 to 3 inches above, pour in so that you don't get big bubbles. Gently 'drop' from the tin about 2 inches from the air to the countertop to knock out the bigger bubbles. Alternatively, making slashes in the batter with the spatula.
8) In a baking tray, place the cake tin and pour in about 1 cup of water to bake in a water bath. It should come up to about 2 cm up the sides. In the lowest rack of the oven, turn down to and bake at 160 deg C for 60 minutes and then increase to 170 deg C for 10 to 15 minutes to brown. Skewer inserted comes out clean.
9) Leave cake in the oven with door ajar for 10 to 15 minutes, then place on a wire rack to cool slightly.
**10) Once the the cake has slightly shrunk away from the pan, unmould and leave to cool completely on the wire rack. Best left to cool completely (at least 3 hours in the fridge or overnight) before cutting. Dampen the knife and press down to slice, do not saw.
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Recipe feedback:
Several things went wrong because the cake didn't have enough structure.
1) After pouring all the batter into the tin, I spied from the corner of my eye that I'd left out some flour. Oooopppps. It won't be structurally solid enough.
2) In attempting NOT to overmix, I undermixed and left pockets of meringue. The top was meringue (visible from the top picture where you can see the lumpy texture on the surface) and the bottom was cheese. Hence in attempting to turn the cake tin over onto a wire rack, the bottom over-balanced and 'crushed' the top (visible from the picture below)
However, when peeling off the paper from the bottom, I noticed that indeed, condensation had started to form. I followed all the directions i.e. left it in the oven with door ajar for 10 minutes to cool slightly to avoid shrinkage and cracked too, so that didn't happen. After removal from the oven, that's when I removed the side of the springform and then attempted to remove the bottom and ... you know the rest. However, if I had left the bottom of the tin on any further, there would have been a soggy cake bottom.
3) While the texture was beautiful once cooled down to room temp, the next day (ie more than 12 hours of chilling), it became too hard in the fridge.
Next time
*1) Check to ensure all the flour has been incorporated. And get a digital scale, I may also have under or over-measured and since this recipe has so little flour in it to give it much needed structure, every little gram counts!
@2) Don't over mix but don't undermix either! Following Cooking with Dog's tricks, use the whisk to stir in 1/3 of the meringue without worrying too much about deflating the air, stir the 2nd third of meringue but using the whisk to break up all the meringue pockets. TRANSFER the mixture BACK into the bowl with the leftover meringue and using the whisk, fold in the meringue by scooping from the bottom then lifting upwards and through. This way, the denser cheese mixture ends up on top of the meringue and it's easier to fold in than adding the remaining meringue on top of the denser mixture. I will not be using a spatula to fold in.
#3) The parchment lining the side may not be a good idea. It leaves creases on the side of the cake. My 8" was also tall enough so that the cake rose just to the top but did not overflow, so I might just butter and flour the sides of the pan the next time. The bottom may still need the parchment although I've now noticed that my springform as a 'lip' which makes removal difficult. Hmm.
**4) Don't remove the springform pan till fully cooled in the fridge. I will just remove the side but not the bottom.
UPDATE: Second attempt posted here.
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