Text 17881, 442 rader
Skriven 2014-10-09 02:19:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av RUTH HAFFLY
Ärende: bam 84
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 ML> down inside. The Japanese have a different relationship
 ML> with nature than we do - there's still an animistic
 ML> streak in their psyche, and people feel a bond with
 ML> their surroundings. Apparently people even prayed to
 ML> the mountain as a sort of minor deity in better times.
 RH> Interesting, but if there had been any sort of a hint of activity, I
 RH> don't think I would have gone hiking that day. Even if I had, I don't
 RH> know how far up I would have gotten--probably close enough to the
 RH> bottom that I could have hot footed it out FAST!

There hadn't been any warning, seismographically or
otherwise, and there were hundreds of people on the
mountain, including children and the elderly. The
Japanese are not by and large an uncautious people.

 ML> years; didn't use it much. And before one of the big
 ML> hurricanes I got a 1" screen battery-powered unit to
 ML> get civil defense bulletins on (and look at Square One
 ML> TV, which I thought intriguing), but that got old
 ML> fast - in fact, it got obsoleted almost immediately.
 RH> With your eyes, that must have been "really fun" to watch. (G)

It had a peculiar indirect projection system and was
quite a bit clearer than one would expect. Anyway, I
was interested most in the audio information.
 
I used it only once for the purpose intended, and even
in that case I could just look out my window and see
the sizable waves; no buildings in my area ended up
being lost, but all the beaches were denuded, which
led up to the interesting sight of the National Guard
trucking sand back to the shore and reconstructing it.

Dr. Tay, the author of this recipe, is pretty obsessive,
but this is about as good a description as I've seen:

Japanese Cheesecake
categories: Japan, Singapore, dairy, dessert
yield: 1

h - Yellow Team
250 g Philadelphia cream cheese (1 block)
6 egg yolks
70 g caster sugar
60 g butter (1/4 block)
100 ml full cream milk
1 Tb lemon juice
1 ts lemon zest (or lemon essence) (optional)
60 g cake flour
20 g cornflour
1/4 ts salt
2 ts Vanilla extract (optional)
h - White Team
6 egg whites
1/4 ts cream of tartar
70 g caster sugar

1. Preheat oven to 200C/400F

2. Spray 8" x 3" cake pan with nonstick spray,
line bottom with baking paper

3. Whisk cream cheese till smooth over a warm
water bath

4. Add yolks and whisk

5. Add half the sugar (70 g) and whisk

6. Warm milk and butter in microwave or stove,
whisk into batter

7. Add vanilla, salt, lemon juice, lemon zest and whisk

8. Remove from water bath, sift flour and fold into
mixture

9. Whisk whites at low speed till foamy

10. Add cream of tartar and beat at high speed till
bubbles become very small but still visible

11. Gradually add sugar and beat till just before
soft peaks

12. Fold whites into batter 1/3 at a time

13. Pour into cake pan and tap the pan on the counter
to release air bubbles

14. Bake in preheated oven for 18 min, lower to
160C/325F for 12 min and turn off the oven and leave
cake in the closed oven for 30 min. Open the door of
the oven slightly at the end of the baking for 10 min
for cake to cool.


Troubleshooting notes

1. Cream Cheese 
Since this is a cheesecake, the cream cheese that you
use is important not only for the flavour but also
for the texture. I have used many different brands of
cream cheese and my family and friends can tell when
I use a different brand of cheese. Philadelphia cream
cheese works perfectly for this recipe and will result
in a cake that is light and fluffy with a subtle but
distinct flavour which is well liked by my guinea pigs
tasters. I once tried a different brand of cream
cheese which resulted in my cake splitting every time
I bake. It took me a while before I figured it out,
but I eventually read that cream cheeses have binders
in their formulation. So I postulated that some cream
cheeses may have too much binders which will result
in a stiffer texture which breaks easily when the
cake starts to rise. So make sure you buy a cream
cheese which is creamy and soft even when it is cold
and not stiff like a sausage (like the one I bought)!

2. Eggs
Eggs come in all sorts of sizes. This recipe is
based on 60 g eggs. Look for cartons which state that
the 10 eggs have a net weight of 600 g. Eggs usually
have a shelf life of about 1 month. Look for the
expiry date and choose the freshest ones. Fresh egg
whites will whip up better and taller. I find that
it is okay to just use eggs straight out of the
fridge. Make sure that when you separate the eggs
that you don't get any yolks in the whites or the
whites will not whip up well!

3. Flour
This cake will tend to break if the structure is
too strong. That is why you need to use low gluten
flour. The gluten is still needed for the cake to
rise as they form a stretchable membrane around
each air bubble which allow them to expand like
little balloons. The starch from the wheat flour
as well as the cornstarch helps to delay the
coagulation of the egg proteins. Once the egg
protein and gluten stiffens, that is when the cake
rises rapidly. From my observations, this happens
at around 85C/185F. That is why I timed my oven
temperature such that the cake plateaus at an
internal temperature of 80C/176F. If you cannot
find cake flour, then you can approximate it by
the formula: 1 c plain flour - 2 Tb plain flour
+ 2 Tb cornflour = 1 c cake flour. But bear in
mind that cake flour is bleached, ground more
finely and formulated to be able to hold more
sugar, so it is still better to use cake flour
if you can buy it.

4. Sugar
You need to use caster sugar, not fine sugar.
The sugar crystals in caster sugar is finer than
fine grain sugar and is essential for making a
good meringue (whipped egg whites). If you don't
have caster sugar at hand, just use your grinder
to grind fine sugar into a powder. Don't use
icing sugar as it contains additional cornflour
and might mess up your cake!

5. Salt
Salt improves the flavour of anything sweet
which is why salted caramel is so nice. It has
been shown that salt activates the receptors on
the tongue and increases the perception of
flavours, so don't omit it!


6. Cake Pan
Choice of cake pan is important! Save yourself
some heartache and go buy an 8" wide, 3" high
nonstick light coloured cake pan for your
cheesecake. You will notice that I don't use a
springform pan or line the sides with baking
paper. I also hate having to line the springform
pan with aluminum foil which can still sometimes
leak and allow water to seep into the cake. I
found that lining the sides with baking paper
results in creases around the sides of the cake
which is quite ugly. Using a one piece nonstick
cake pan is much easier and results in a cake
with very nice, straight sides.

You need to use a light coloured pan because
those black pans will absorb heat easily and
cause the sides of your cake to bake faster than
the middle. This will cause it to dome and crack.
I found that the non-stick, light coloured pan is
the way to go. With this pan, the batter will
come up to about 1.5 cm from the rim which is
just nice as the cake will rise about 2 cm using
the oven timing I provided. If you try to bake
this at 160C for 1 hr 10 mins as per most internet
recipes, the cake will rise very high and then
deflate resulting in an ugly wrinkled top. If
you don't have nonstick spray at hand, just brush
the pan with butter and dust evenly with cornflour.

7. Lining the Bottom of the Cake Pan
Line the bottom of the pan with baking paper so
that it is easy to de-pan the cake after cooking.
You can spray some non stick spray on the bottom
so that the paper can stick to it (ironic isn't
it?). Alternatively, you can do what Chef Yamashita
does and line the bottom with a 1 cm slice of
sponge cake! (This requires you to bake a sponge
cake!) The sponge is great as it adds an extra
dimension of texture as well as act as an insulator
for the bottom of the cake! (Good extra step to
show that you really put in the effort when you
are trying to impress your future mother-in-law
or wife)

8. Whisking the Cream Cheese 
I found it difficult to get a smooth mixture when
I melt the cream cheese together with the milk as
most recipes tell you to do. Much easier to place
the cream cheese over a warm water bath, cut it
into cubes with a pair of scissors, allow it to
warm up and whisk. You will find that the cream
cheese will melt nicely into a creamy smooth
mixture to which you can then add the egg yolks.

9. Folding in the Flour
Make sure you sift the flour to remove any lumps
and fold gently just before you add the whites.
Don't be too bothered if it looks a little lumpy,
as long as it is relatively smooth, you will be
fine. Don't over mix it as more gluten will form
when you mix. More gluten will make the batter
stiffer which result in more bubbles, more rise
and a broken cake. Fold and mix gently and don't
allow the batter to stand for too long with the
flour in the mixture as gluten starts forming
when it is wet!

10. Temperature of the batter
The temperature of the batter should be between
40 to 50C. It should not be cold, neither should
it be too warm as the cake will cook too quickly
when it enters the oven. When this happens, the
cake will break because the sides cook too
quickly before the middle.

11. Whipping the Whites
The Japanese cheesecake is not like a chiffon
cake where you want the cake to rise a lot and
create lots of bubbles in the structure of the
cake. It is light but still creamy and the
bubbles remain very tiny. Don't overwhip the
whites! If you get to stiff peaks, then your
cake will break! I don't even beat to soft
peaks as I want a batter that is easily
pourable. Somewhere just past the ribbon stage
(the whites will form ribbons as it falls from
the whisk) and before soft peaks where you get
about 3" of whites left on your whisk after you
lift the whisk out of the bowl for 2 seconds is
just right. I don't use my counter top mixer as
it is too efficient and I often overwhip the
whites. A handheld beater gives you more control.
Don't forget the cream of tartar. It helps to
stabilize the whites even through the baking
stage. You are aiming for a meringue which is
smooth and silky with a bit of sheen (from the
sugar) that is easy to fold into the batter. It
should not be lumpy at all. Err on underwhipping
rather than overwhipping it as this cake doesn't
need so much air in it.

12. Filling the Cake Pan
Once the whites are mixed into the batter, you
should have a batter with the consistency of
thick potato soup and very easy to pour. You
should not have to level the top with a spatula.
It should just flatten out by itself. The batter
should come up to 1.5 to 2 cm from the rim of the
pan.  You need at least 1.5 cm for the cake to
rise, so if for some reason you have extra batter
don't try to save it by overfilling the pan, just
throw it away or you will end up with an ugly
cake. Make sure you tap the cake pan on the
table top sharply to release as many bubbles as
possible! Bubbles will rise to the top during the
baking and produce cracks!

13. Water Bath
You need to bake this cake in a water bath as the
water will absorb the heat and provide a gentle,
moist heat to bake the cake. Try to get another
pan which is 1/3 larger than your cake pan. No one
actually mentions this, but the amount of water
you have in the oven actually matters! I found
that when I used a big tray of water, it took a
longer time for the internal temperature of the
oven to rise to the set temperature. This makes
sense since the more water you have, the more
heat it will absorb! So use a pan which gives you
about 5 cm of water all round the cake pan. I also
found that it is useful to place a folded towel
at the bottom of the pan in order to make sure
you have a layer of water beneath the cake pan.
You will be baking this cake at the lowest rack,
so it is near to the bottom heating element.
Placing a towel there will ensure that the
temperature at the bottom of the pan never rises
above 100C. You should fill the pan with hot
water. It doesn't have to be direct from the
kettle but it shouldn't be cold. I usually use
the water from the double boiler. The water
should be about 1" high which means that it is
1/3 the height of the cake pan. It is important
to have it high enough as it helps to keep the
sides of the cake pan at a temperature that is
close to 100C. This prevents the sides of the
cake from cooking too quickly which means that
it will set before the middle of the cake. When
that happens the cake will "dome" and if it domes
too much it will crack.

14. Baking Times
Most online recipes say that you need to bake the
cake at 160C for 1 hour 10 mins. For my first few
cakes, I found that my cake often rises too much
and then cracks or deflates resulting in an ugly
wrinkly top. I got so frustrated that I decided
to put a temperature probe in the cake as well
as the oven in order to know what exactly is
happening in the oven. What I found was that at
160C, the temperature of the cake would have risen
to 75C by the 40 min mark, by around 50 min it
would be 85C and the cake will rise exponentially,
resulting in a very tall cake which might crack or
even if it didn't, will have a wrinkly top after
it cools down. (Just like stretch marks after
giving birth). I decided that I should bake this
cake such that it rises as little as possible.

Normal whole egg will coagulate at 68C. With all
the other ingredients added, the coagulation
temperature is around 80C. So what we need to do
is to come up with a temperature and timing which
will bake the cake to an internal temperature of
80 to 85C. That would be when the egg proteins
just start to coagulate. Stopping the cooking at
this temperature should result in a cake which
is more tender and moist. It is just like cooking
a hard boil egg to 80C as opposed to 100C.
Overcooked whites turn rubbery. I expect it's the
same when it is in a cake.

If we bake at 160C, by 40 min it will have an
internal temperature of 75C and when we turn off
the oven, it will continue to rise and plateau at
81C. But the problem is that the top will look
pretty anaemic instead of having that bronzed
South American suntan look. That is why I decided
to preheat the oven to 200C instead. Once the cake
pan and waterbath is placed in the oven the
temperature falls to 180C and remains there for
the first 18 min. By this time the top will be
slightly tanned. We then lower the temp to 160C
before the oven temp starts to climb again. By
the 30 min mark (from the start of baking), the
cake would have risen by 1 - 1.5cm and have a
nice brown domed top. The internal temperature
of the cake at this stage is 75C. That is when
you turn off the oven and allow the residual heat
to continue cooking the cake. The internal
temperature of the cake should plateau at 81C
and the cake rise by not more than 2 cm before
it starts deflating in the oven. By the 1 hr mark
the internal temperature of the oven would have
fallen to 110C. This is when you open the oven
door by 10 cm (just slightly ajar, you don't have
to measure this!) for 10 min. The cake would have
already shrunken and pulled off the sides and
ready to be de-panned.

Every oven is different, so you may have to
adjust the timing to suit your own oven. Having
an oven thermometer will help. As long as you
keep the oven temperature at around 180C for the
first 18 min and then lower it to 160C by the
end of the 30 min mark, your cake should be
cooked nicely.

15. Drawing the Cartoon
This step is entirely optional, but I think it
adds a nice personal touch if you are planning
to give the cake as a present. All you need to do
is to set aside some extra cake batter and mix it
with cocoa powder. I use powder because it helps
to thicken the batter so that it is easier to pipe.
The dots are easier to do by using a satay stick
dipped into the batter. Make sure you sift the
cocoa powder to remove any lumps and mix well!

16. De-panning the Cake
If you have done everything right, de-panning
should not be a problem. Just make sure you jiggle
the cake to loosen it from the sides and de-pan
when the cake is still warm and never do it after
the cake cools in the fridge as the "skin" becomes
damp and sticks to whatever you are using to de-pan
it! The baking paper is just an extra guarantee to
ensure the top of the cake does not stick to
whatever you are using to de-pan the cake. (If the
cake is warm, you don't really need it)

16. Glazing the top of the cake
The cake looks best when it is just out of the
oven. It needs to be aged in the fridge for 4 hr
(better overnight) for its flavour to mature. But
by that time the top will become wrinkly (It's
just like us humans!). In order to have a cake
that looks good, you need to A. Take a photo of
it when it is just out of the oven so that you
can show the world how great your cake looks
before it turns wrinkly, or B. Glaze it before
it turns wrinkly.

To glaze you need apricot gel or glazing gel
which you can buy from baking supply shops. Add
50% water to the gel and microwave it till it is
a smooth liquid and apply to the top of the cake
while it is warm.  It is important to glaze it
as soon as you take it out of the oven as the
surface needs to be warm or the gel will just
set too quickly. Also try to use as wide a brush
as you can and do it with as few strokes as
possible. You will need at least two coats to
give it a nice smooth surface.

http://ieatishootipost.sg

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