Ube Souffle Cheesecake
I've always loved the souffle cheesecakes at Uncle Tetsu, especially their ube flavor. This was my first attempt at making it, and I was pleasantly surprised at how this turned out. The cake was soft, jiggly, light, and had a well-balanced flavor between the creaminess / sweetness / ube. And it's actually surprisingly easy to make, as long as you can make a good meringue. This cake is extremely addicting; you WILL come back for a second slice. But you'll still feel great afterwards, because it's so light.
Active Time: 1 hr
Total Time: 2 hr
Ingredients
> eggs (6)
> butter (1/4 cup, or 1/2 stick)
> cream cheese (8 oz)
> sugar (1/4 cup, for batter)
> corn starch (2 tbsp)
> flour (1/4 cup)
> milk (1/2 cup)
> vanilla extract (1/2 tsp)
> ube extract (1 tsp)
> cream of tartar (1/4 tsp)
> sugar (1/4 cup, for meringue)
> powdered sugar
Instructions
1. Separate 6 eggs; put the yolks into a small bowl and the whites into a large mixing bowl.
2. In a pot over low heat, gently melt and mix the butter, cream cheese, and sugar (1/4 cup) until you get a smooth texture.
3. Remove the pot from the heat. Add the egg yolks. Mix well but gently.
4. Add the corn starch and flour. Mix well until clumps disappear.
5. Add the milk, vanilla extract, and ube extract. Mix well; the resulting batter should be smooth and liquidy.
6. Prepare the baking pans (use either one 8-9in cake tin, or two 6in cake tins). Line the bottom and sides with parchment paper. Prepare a water bath in a deep rectangular baking pan.
7. In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg whites into stiff peaks. This should take arond ~10m. Use typical meringue techniques: start off on medium speed for ~3m, medium-high for ~3m, high for ~3m. Add the cream of tartar when you see some egg foam, and gradually add the sugar (1/4 cup) once the egg whites have become very white + foamy.
8. Gently mix in a little bit of the beaten egg white into the batter (just mix, no need to fold at this stage). Repeat this twice, using about 1/3 of the egg white in total.
9. Pour the batter into the egg whites; mix together by gently folding until everything is mixed together.
10. Pour the batter into the baking pan. Bake for ~25m at 330F until the cake is risen. Open the oven door for about 10s to reduce the oven temperature. Reduce the temperature to 255F and bake for ~45m. Turn off the oven, let rest in the oven for ~10m.
11. Carefully remove / invert the cake from the tin. Dust with powdered sugar. Enjoy immediately (for the most jiggly, fluffy texture), or chill to enjoy later.
Notes/Tips:
> Ube extract can be difficult to find at typical supermarkets; your best bet is a Filipino supermarket; general Asian supermarkets may also have it.
> Tip for making a circular sheet of parchment paper to line the bottom of the cake tin: take a sheet of parchment paper, repeatedly fold it in half with the same folding point, until the angle becomes really small. Measure out the radius of the cake tin and make a cut at the appropriate place on the parchment paper.
> As usual with meringues: be patient. Knowing what exactly "stiff peaks" represents is something that comes with experience, and watching a lot of baking videos (I'm still figuring it out myself). Take care to avoid overbeating it too. Be gentle when folding the batter into the egg whites so as to retain as much of the air bubbles as possible; overmixing will lead to a dense cake that doesn't rise properly.
> Feel free to adjust the flavor to your heart's desire! Matcha -- substitute the ube extract + vanilla extract for matcha powder. Classic -- substitute the ube extract with more vanilla extract, and top with a honey glaze.