I’ve always loved the soft fluffy Japanese cheesecake but I also know how difficult it can be to make. I tried this recipe that worked out pretty well.

To add decorate the cheesecake, I wanted something that would compliment it without over powering the delicate cake. I decided to make some candied cranberries.

Start by boiling 1/2 cup of water with 1/2 cup of white sugar. Boil until the sugar has fully melted. Take the simple syrup off the heat and let it cool for about 1 minute.

Take 2 cups of fresh cranberries (they work ok with frozen too) and stir them into the simple syrup until they are completely coated.

Place the cranberries on a cooling rack and let it dry for an hour.

After a hour, the cranberries should be tacky and easy to coat with a sugar. Coat each cranberry with some sugar and place back on the cooling rack.

The coated cranberries are sparkly and shiny. They will take about 2-3 hours to completely dry. You can store them in a container with the leftover sugar at the bottom. Don’t store them in the fridge or the sugar will dissolve.

To make the cheesecake, separate the yolks from the whites. You will need 7 eggs for this recipe.

In a mixing bowl, add 1/3 cup of flour and 1/3 cup of corn flour. Sift flours to take out all the lumps.

In a saucepan, melt 3/8 cup of butter and 265mL of milk together. When the butter is melted, lower the heat and melt 250 g of cream cheese into the milk.

Add 2 tsp of vanilla extract to the mixture and stir. Turn off the heat.

Add the flour mixture and egg yolks. Mix well and let it cool before the next step.

In a mixer, add the 7 egg whites, 3/4 tsp cream of tartar and 1 1/4 cup of sugar. Beat the egg whites until if has formed stiff peaks.

Gently fold in about 1/2 the egg whites into the cooled cream cheese mixture. Add the rest once the first half is mixed in.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. You can bake the cheesecake in muffin tins or in a cake pan. If it is in a cake pan, make sure to line the pan with parchment paper for easy  removal.

For this cheesecake to bake properly, add a pan of water to the oven right underneath the cake pan.

Bake the cake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let it cool in the oven with the oven door closed. I took mine out too early and it deflated.
Decorate the cupcakes and cake with a dusting of powdered sugar and topped with sugared cranberries!

I made the cheesecake for the holidays. It looks festive with the sugared cranberries!! Enjoy this light and fluffy cheesecake!
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