Fruity Japanese Cotton Cheesecake

This cake looked so lovely, so kawaii. Don't you agree? The base is a Japanese Cotton Cheesecake and beautifully adorned with fresh cream and fruits. This cake is specially made for my daughter's sweet 18th birthday. You see, my daughter is a baker herself and she has requested me to buy her an assortment of petite cakes from Antoinette. She has always wanted to try those pretty cakes (and they sure do look so pretty). You can visit Antoinette to look at their array of cakes. And she actually did not want me to bake a cake coz she said I always bake the same cakes (but I want to perfect my skills in those cakes ....) I guess that's the difference between a youngster who wants to try baking a variety and someone older like me who wants to sharpen her skills and perfect it. I've never baked a Japanese cotton cheesecake (it was a craze many years back) and I wanted to try it this time. She agreed with my choice and I started reading up .....

There's a lot of bakers who have tried baking this cake. I searched through their blogs to compare ingredients and methods differences and tips on how to bake a successful cheesecake. I thought it's going to be easy and didn't know that the cake is susceptible to shrinking and collapsing if egg whites are not beaten properly, oven temperature is not set correctly and cooling is not done properly. It is temperamental like baking a chiffon cake. I remembered my mum telling us kids to keep our mouth shut when she baked chiffon cake. If the cake did not rise, she would blame it on us for asking too many questions. Haha .....

I take note of all these before I start to make sure my cake is successfully. This time, I took the recipe and tips from The Little Teochew. I must say the cake was a success except that the cake did shrink and collapse a little while cooling in the oven. The texture was soft; the bottom wasn't wet and it didn't have large holes within it. Will have to read up more tips and troubleshooting guide before I attempt baking it the next time. Will update all of you again ......

Japanese Cotton Cheesecake
Please refer to The Little Teochew for the recipe. I halved the recipe to bake in a 6" round cake pan with a removable base.

Whipped Cream frosting:
Ingredients:
14g powdered sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
232g heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. In a small saucepan, combine the powdered sugar and cornstarch. Gradually stir in 1/4 cup of the heavy cream. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly, and simmer for a few seconds just until thickened. Scrape the mixture into a small bowl and allow it to cool to room temperature. Stir in the vanilla.
2. In a chilled mixing bowl, beat the remaining cream just until traces of the beater marks begin to appear. Add the cooled cornstarch mixture in a steady stream, whipping constantly. Whip just until stiff peaks form when the beater is turned off and raised.

Assembly:

1. Place the cheesecake on a cakeboard. Slice off the top layer to make the top even (this is not necessary if the top is not too domed).
2. Spread a layer of the whipped cream onto the top of the cake. Decorate it with a variety of fruits.
3. Sprinkle snow powder over the fruits or you can glaze it with instant jelly mixture.