Japanese Cheesecake: Happy Birthday Nigeria! Love, From Japan

By Lola Obembe

I was asked to make a dish with independence day in mind. Have you ever googled “independence day food Nigeria?” I’m sure green and white eba and rice would be less than appealing to most (all) of us. So I decided to make something I’ve been obsessing about for some time – Japanese Cheesecake. Now, this is something you definitely want to google, watch a video of this amazing cake jiggle and you will be convinced. I’m going to be very honest with this one. It was sort of a struggle but worth it in the end.

Here’s goes:

Cream Cheese
6 eggs
Caster/icing Sugar
Unsalted butter
Full cream milk
Lemon juice
Flour
Corn flour
Salt
Vanilla essence
Cream of tartar/baking powder

So the above listed items all have specific quantities to be used but to be honest I just like to wing it (read – I haven’t been able to find any baking utensils in my house since we moved). I also ended up using 12 eggs because I messed up the first batch of whites…

If you’re not about the struggle life then you will require an electric whisk.

This dish is created by combining the “yellow” egg yolk mix with the “white” egg whites which you beat till it forms a meringue. It’s a very light and airy cake hence the jiggle.

The YELLOW

Step 1

Separate the yolks from the whites and set aside

Step 2

Put the cream cheese (one pack) in a bowl which is sitting in another bowl filled with warm/hot water. Whisk till smooth

Step 3

Add the egg yolks and whisk again

Step 4

Add about 70g of Sugar to the mixture and continue to whisk

Step 5

Melt about 60g of the butter in 2 cups of milk in the microwave or oven. Pour into the mixture and continue to whisk.

Step 6

Add the vanilla essence, salt and lemon juice and mix again. Turn the oven on to 200C.

Step 7

Sift the flours – corn & baking flour. I didn’t do this so you can see lumps in my mixture :/ Mix into the yellow and set aside.

THE WHITE

Step 1

I pretty much made meringue by hand, with a fork… I mean if that isn’t the very definition of struggle, smh.

Start by whisking the egg whites in a copper or steel (not plastic) bowl until the eggs get foamy then add a quarter teaspoon of cream of tartar. (I couldn’t find this so I used baking powder; there’s a mathematical equation to find the equivalent substitution, but again; I winged it)

Step 2

Whisk on high speed, or as fast as your arms will let you until the bubbles get almost invisible then begin to add another 70g of sugar bit by bit. I added a quarter teaspoon at a time.

Step 3

Continue to beat until your arms give way and tears begin to run from your eyes… (just kidding) … until the mix forms soft white peaks.

Step 4

Fold the white into the yellow

THE BAKING

Pour the mix into a cake pan that’s either lined with baking paper or with butter and flour. Cover the bottom of the pan with tin foil and place into a larger pan filled with boiling water. Pour your batter into the pre-heated oven and let bake for 35 minutes.