Japanese Cotton Cheesecake

Place cream cheese, butter, and milk in a large heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water (bain-marie). Whisk gently until the cream cheese has melted completely and the mixture is smooth, silky, and uniform — no lumps, no streaks. Remove from heat and cool to 40-45 C before adding yolks. If the mixture is too hot it will scramble the yolks.

Whisk the egg yolks into the cooled cream cheese base one at a time. Sift together the flour and cornflour and fold into the mixture in two additions until completely smooth with no lumps. Add vanilla. The batter should be thick but pourable — like thick pancake batter. Any lumps of flour will show as dense spots in the finished cake.

In a scrupulously clean bowl, whip cold egg whites with cream of tartar at medium speed until foamy. Add the caster sugar gradually while continuing to whip. Increase to medium-high and whip to firm peaks — the meringue should be stiff enough to hold a peak but still smooth and glossy, not dry or grainy. The critical point: do not over-whip. The meringue should be just firm, with a slight curl at the peak tip, not completely rigid.

Add the meringue to the yolk batter in three additions. The first addition: stir in roughly to lighten the batter without concern for preserving air. The second and third additions: fold with a wide rubber spatula, scooping from the base and folding over, rotating the bowl. Stop as soon as no white streaks remain. Pour into a parchment-lined 20 cm round tin. Tap the tin once on the counter to release large bubbles.

Wrap the base and sides of the tin tightly in two layers of foil. Place in a deep roasting tray and fill with boiling water to reach halfway up the tin sides (water bath / bain-marie baking). Bake at 160 C (320 F) for 55-65 minutes. The surface should be a deep amber-brown and the cake should tremble as a whole when the tin is gently shaken — not sloshing liquid, but a unified jiggle. Turn the oven off and leave the cake inside with the door ajar for 30 minutes before removing. Cool completely at room temperature before refrigerating overnight.