Japanese Cheesecake with Candy Sushi

This past Friday we held a celebratory send off party for my friend James over at Living Japanese. This guy is a beast, not only did he teach himself to speak, read, and write Japanese but he is also embarking on a year long study abroad program in Japan come August 31st. And what is a celebratory party without cake?! Nothing. It is nothing.

I have been wanting to try Japanese cheesecake for a while now, I have seen recipes floating around pinterest and after reading reviews, and google translating some things I finally came up with my own little recipe. Japanese cheesecake uses only half the amount of cream cheese that American cheesecakes require and they also incorporate whipped egg whites, making the texture very airy and almost mousse-like. I would recommend shutting the oven off and just letting the cake slowly cool down in the oven because it did sink quite a bit when I let it cool on a cooling rack. As for the candy sushi, they actually taste a lot better than one would think. I made them purely for a decoration and they ended up being quite delicious!

Japanese Cheesecake

7 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar (divided)
3 eggs, separated
1/4 cup cornstarch (don't use flour)
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
water (for water bath)
1/2 cup powdered sugar (for topping)

Directions:

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch cake tin with cooking oil spray.

2.Beat cream cheese with milk to soften. Add half of the sugar, egg yolks, vanilla, cornstarch and lemon juice, beat until smooth.

3.Beat egg whites in a separate bowl until foamy. Gradually add remaining sugar and cream of tartar, beating on high speed until soft peaks form, about 3-5 minutes. Gently fold beaten egg whites into the cream cheese mixture, then pour batter into cake pan and smooth the surface.

4.Place cake pan into a larger roasting pan and place in lower rack of oven. Pour enough water into the roasting pan to come half way up the side of the cake pan.

5.Bake 35-40 minutes, until a pick inserted in the middle of the center comes out clean. When the cake cools, shift a thin layer of powered sugar over the top.

Candy Sushi!

What you'll need...

- 1 box of fruit roll ups
- 1 bag of Swedish fish
- 1 small bag of twizzlers (cut to size)
- 1 (10oz.) bag of marshmallows
- 3 TBS butter
- 6 cups Rice Krispy cereal
- a reallllyyyyy sharp knife

Assembly:

It's pretty straightforward and 1,000 times easier than making real sushi. Simply unroll the green/blue fruit roll up and pat down a thin layer of prepared rice krispies and place two twizzlers at the base of the roll facing you. Roll up the sushi tightly, then cut into pieces. To make the "sashimi" roll I just rolled out a bit of rice crispy and places a Swedish fish on top then wrapped it with a piece of cut green fruit roll up.