light lemon cheese cake

Determined to start trying recipes from the recipe books I bought, I picked one of the cake type that I had been trying to stay away from all these while - cheese cake. Though I like the idea of eating a small slice of cheese cake once in a while, the thought of having to work off all the calories from finishing a whole cheese cake is definitely not encouraging.

So when I came across this light lemon cheese cake 柠檬芝士（轻奶酪）蛋糕recipe in 贝太厨房, which definitely packs less calories compared to a conventional cheese cake, I decided to give it a try.

Light Lemon Cheese Cake (for a 6-inch cake pan)

Cream Cheese 200 g

Eggs 2

Yogurt 75 g

Cake flour 35 g

Sugar 50 g

Lemon juice 20 ml

1. Separate the egg whites and egg yolks and put into 2 different containers

2. Put cream cheese in a bowl, place the bowl in a pot filled with water over small fire. Whisk the cream cheese until forming a smooth paste.

3. Pour the lightly beaten egg yolks in 3 separate portions into the cream cheese, each time mixing evenly before adding the next.

4. Repeat the same for 30 g sugar then the flour. Add in lemon juice and yogurt and mix well.

5. In the separate containers, beat the egg whites, adding the remaining sugar in 3 separate portions, until the whites reach soft peak form.

7. Pour 1/3 of the egg whites into the cream cheese paste, mix evenly with spatula before adding another 1/3, mix well. Pour the cream cheese paste into the remaining egg whites, mix by folding from down up. Avoid over mixing.

8. Pour the cheese cake paste into pan. Put the pan onto a baking tray filled with water.

9. Put the baking tray into preheated oven at 160 degree C for 60 mins.

10. Leave the baked cake to cool down completely before removing from mold.

I used only 1/2 of the above portion to make a small loaf of cheese cake and it took me only 30 mins instead of 60 mins of stated baking time. The book also mentioned that once the surface of the cheese cake has hardened when lightly touch on the surface, the cake is almost ready.

The cheese cake turned out really soft, almost melt-in-your-mouth type, and has texture similar to Japanese cheese cake. It was tasty but slightly on the sourish side because of the yogurt and lemon. The yogurt I used was really sour. I like the tartness in the cake but hubby thinks it was slightly overboard for him.

The only problem I have with my finished product is the look, the cheese cake looked fluffy and nice just out of the oven but shrunk after cooling off, giving it a 'wrinkled' look on the surface. Also, I realised that there were some moisture trapped between the butter paper, that I used to line the mold, and the mold itself. I am not sure whether the cooling off process caused the condensation, hence causing the cake to 'deform' slightly. In any case, the next time I make this recipe again, I will sure to try it without the butter paper, to see whether it helps with preserving the look. Anyone out there who is aware what was the root of the problem, please enlighten me.