Japanese Cheesecake

Directions

1Line the base of a 7" round cake pan with parchment paper and grease the sides with butter, set aside.

2Separate the eggs and leave egg whites to chill in the fridge until ready to use, this helps ensure a more stable meringue.

3Fill a saucepan with water to about half full. Bring the water to a full boil. Turn off the heat. Place white chocolate chips in a large mixing bowl and set it over the saucepan (make sure the bowl is bigger than the sauce pan). Stir chocolate till smooth.

4Add cream cheese and mix until smooth.

5Remove mixing bowl from the saucepan. Add the egg yolks, with a balloon whisk, whisk to combine. Add vanilla extract (if using), whisk to combine, set aside.

6In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until the egg whites reach the stiff peak stage. (Take care not to over beat the egg whites. Since there is no sugar added, it takes a very short time to reach the stiff peak stage.)

7Add the beaten egg whites into the cream cheese mixture in 3 separate additions, each time fold with a spatula (I used a balloon whisk) until just blended.

8Pour batter into the prepared pan. Tap the pan lightly on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter.

9Place cake pan in a baking tray. Fill the baking tray with some hot water.

10Place on lower rack of the oven and bake at 325° F for 15 minutes. Lower the temperature to 320° F and bake for another 15 minutes. Turn off the oven temperature and leave the cake inside the oven for another 15 minutes.

11Remove cake pan from oven and leave the cake to cool before unmolding. Refrigerate for about 2 to 3 hours. Dust with icing sugar if desired.