Japanese cheesecake cupcakes

The weather has been driving me absolutely nuts. Last week, the weather was so miserable, I could not go for a run. And when I'm too lazy to go for runs, that equals to = more laziness and eating. And now, I'm even more annoyed because the sun just started to shine, and I already ate lunch BECAUSE THE SKY WAS GREY. So my mood and my tummy are not too happy. People who live in Melbourne will understand my annoyance at the weather.

Anyway, what's not annoying are these cupcakes. They're kind of dreamy to me. Perhaps, like Dr. McDreamy to Grey's anatomy fans. But these are McCheesecake-dreamy (or should it be the other way around?). Like eating clouds or pillows? Get what I mean?

As a child, I would always love to peer outside the window (always loved the window seat) while flying because I was intrigued about clouds, since they looked like cotton balls to me. I had crazy thoughts, like any other 3 year old. "What if I could jump out of the plane and sleep on one of those clouds?" The original title of the recipe is "Cotton soft cheesecake". It is really like cotton-soft-cloud-cheesecake.

I was able to make 12 cheesecake cupcakes and 1 loaf! The batter is quite a bit, so I recommend halving the recipe if you're making cupcakes. I also put a green tea swirl, and stupidly enough I forgot to add some sugar. So it was a bit too bitter, so later I put some jam on top to try and balance it out. I also think a chocolate swirl would be really nice! Just use cocoa powder instead.

This is a different recipe to the one I used for my big Japanese cheesecake with the strawberries. I like both recipes, both easy! Although, I'll have to admit that I like the cornstarch added to it because I feel that it adds a bit more fluffiness, but nevertheless I still love Nami's recipe (the other one I used).

Japanese cheesecake
Ingredients
250 g (9 oz) cream cheese
140 g (5 oz) granulated sugar *
6 egg whites
6 egg yolks
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
50 g (2 oz) unsalted butter
100 ml (3.3 oz) fresh milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
60 g/2 oz cake flour / superfine flour (I didn't have cake flour, so I just one tbsp flour and added more cornstarch)
20 g/ 1 oz cornflour (cornstarch)
1/4 tsp salt
* I increased the sugar to 155 g because I know that Japanese cheesecake is not very sweet, and I like eating it plain but with just enough sweetness.

*swirl (if using) : mix 1 tbsp of green tea powder with 3-4 tbsp of hot water. Add a bit of sugar if desired (recommended).

Method:
1. Melt cream cheese, butter and milk over a double boiler. Cool the mixture and then sift flour, cornflour, add the egg yolks, lemon juice and mix well.
2. Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Add sugar and whisk until soft peak forms.
3. Add the cheese mixture to egg white mixture and mix well. Pour into an 8 inch round cake pan or into desired pan.
4. Bake cheesecake in a water bath for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until set and golden brown at 160 C (325 F)
Adapted from Diana's desserts