This Cheddar Cheesecake is light and airy and fluffy and less dense than American or German version Cheesecakes, this is one of my favorite it is soft and spongy and that is not overly sweet. This recipe uses Cheddar cheese instead of cream cheese to make cotton cheesecake.
I have to admit it, this is one of the most challenging cakes I have ever baked on my channel. The recipe is very tricky, some recipes call for many egg whites to make a tall and jiggly texture look nice, but it has less cheese flavor.
I found that the temperature is the key to make a beautiful and delicious souffle cheesecake, using a specific temperature to cook your flour slightly to gelatinize it to hold a lot of meringue to your cake batter. It’s the key to achieve the best result. And that’s the trick to make a beautiful cake with no crack on top, as well.
The more common Japanese cotton souffle cheesecake is made with cream cheese. Personally I prefer the taste of Cheddar Cheese Cotton Cheesecake as it is richer than cream cheese version. You may use either block Cheddar cheese or sliced Cheddar cheese for this recipe.
Expect some failures the first few times you made it, but there might be a chance you will get it the first time too. I am not an expert baker and all i can say this is the most challenging one, but i got it perfectly the second time i made this. I’m very pleased with the end result, not much shrinkage and there was a smooth top. Really feel so proud of myself. Lol
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Cheddar Cheesecake
Description
Soft and fluffy, light and airy cheddar cheesecake
Ingredients
For the Cake Batter
For the Meringue
Instructions
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Grease 8" round baking pan, then line with parchment paper. (Reminder: The parchment paper should be 1″ higher than the pan.)
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Preheat oven to 160°C/320°F. (Reminder: Preheat to 160°C/320°F but bake at 150°C/300°F.)
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In a small bowl, combine flour and cornflour. Mix until combined. Set aside
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Separate the egg whites from the yolks. Let them come to room temperature while you prepare other things.
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Pour milk into the sauce pan, add the cheddar slices. Bring to simmer in a very slow fire. Stir until the cheese slowly melt then add butter.
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Whisk egg yolk lightly, pour milk gradually and stir quickly. Sift flour mixture to the egg mixture. Mix well until smooth. Sift mixture to remove any lumps. Set aside
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Whisk egg whites over low speed until foamy. Add lemon juice,whisk until small bubbles are formed. Add sugar gradually, let it beat for another minute before adding another 1/3 until you run out. Whisk until soft peaks continue beating for another minute. Lower the speed to 4 and whip the meringue until it forms a medium stiff peak. When you lift the meringue up it will hold its shape but with slight bent on the tip. Stop beating
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Add meringue into cheese batter in 3 batches, fold gently until well mixed with spatula. Scrape the bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is folded in evenly. Sometimes some batter got stuck at the bottom of the bowl. You shouldn't see anymore white meringue and the combined batter is silky smooth.
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Pour the batter into lined baking pan, tap baking pan for a few times to break large bubbles.
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Carefully place the pan inside the larger pan then stir using a stick to get rid some of the air bubbles from the batter, fill the larger pan with hot water for water bath (about 1″ high).
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Bake at 150°C/300°F for 50 minutes, then reduce to 140°C/285°F and bake for 60-70 minutes, until fully cooked (wooden stick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean) and the top is nicely browned.
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Remove the water bath, switch off the oven, let the Cheddar Cheese Cheesecake cool in the oven for 40 minutes with the door slightly open.
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When completely cooled, keep Cheddar Cheesecake refrigerated for 4-5 hours until chilled before slicing.
Note
- Cotton cheesecake tends to crack when baked at higher heat. To avoid this problem, it needs to be baked at lower heat over longer period. If you don’t mind it cracking and want to shorten the baking time, you may bake at 160°C/320°F for 80-90 minutes.
- You can store the cake in the fridge for about 3-4 days in an air-tight container. The chilled cheesecake will be a bit denser compared to room temperature.
