Makes 2 8-inch cakes.
Equipments:
- 2 8-inch cake molds
- Hand mixer
- Wax paper
- Baking pan (for water bath)
Ingredients:
- Butter 170g (unsalted or salted, I used half half)
- Milk 500g
- Cream Cheese 440g (two 220g boxes)
- Flour 75g (all purpose, do not use bread flour)
- Corn starch 35g
- Sugar 140g
- egg yolks x 6
- egg whites x 6
- (Lemon juice)
- (Vanilla extract)
- (Almond extract)
- Medium heat, cook milk+butter.
- Turn off heat when boiling. Add cream cheese, mix till well incorporated w/o lumps.
- When mixture is still hot, fold in flour+starch. Timing is important here, do not allow powder to sit and form cooked clumps. Using hand mixer, mix till mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool 120F (50C).
- Add egg yolks. Set aside. It's now time to prepare cake molds (if using spring-form).
- In a dry bowl, beat egg whites till soft peaks form. Add sugar and continue beating.
- Preheat oven 425F (220C).
- Fold egg white into mixture. Add lemon juice if desired. Pour into mold (no more than 80% full). Set in a baking pan with warm water (bake in water bath).
- Bake for 10 minutes till surface is lightly browned. Open oven door to force down the temperature. Also reduce oven temp to 215F. Continue to bake for 45 minutes.
- After experiments, silicon molds are the best. No seams, and hence no need to water proof it with tin foil.
- Spring-form cake molds should be fully coated with wax paper. Wrap cake mold with tin foil to prevent hot water from sipping in. Using silicone baking mode, no need for wax paper or tin foil.
- I used 1% milk, salted butter.
- Only add lemon juice right before baking.
- Definitely add hot/warm water into baking sheet. Cold water will not work.
- 10 minute into baking (at 430F) or after enough coloring, definitely open the door (and/or add more cold water into water bath) and reduce to 215F for 45 minutes.
- Water bath is a must, that regulates the temp in the oven, and provides sufficient water vapor. 1-cm height is enough.
- When finished baking, allow plenty of time for cooling before placing cake into fridge. Best served after overnight chilling. Enjoy!
Equipment - hand mixer.
Combined mixture. After adding egg white, entire mixture feels light and fluffy. At this point, it should be baked ASAP.
Wax paper on the bottom of mold for easy handling. I should've cut to fit.
Mixture poured into silicon baking mold.
Upper layer cake got tanned completely.
Lower layer one didn't get browned as much. Just as experiment to see how it comes out.
Silicone baking mold is the way to go, no wax paper needed, see how smooth the bottom is
