July 28, 2020
Written By: Adriana
The cheesecake from Chef Chef Koji Tamura's Mr. CHEESECAKE in Tokyo has a lovely creamy texture that is similar to a creme brulee. It's flavor has notes of lemon and vanilla, and because of all the creams is a very indulgent dessert. It does not require any crust or toppings and is very simple to make.
When I first attempted this cheesecake, I was surprised that the outcome was a very flat piece of cheesecake in the shape of a rectangle, barely reaching an inch high. This is because the standard rectangular cake pans used by chefs in Asia are not easy to find here in the US. In fact, finding the measurements for that exact pan was difficult - I had no idea on the depth or width, only that it was called a "22cm rectangular cake tin" on Mr CHEESECAKE's website.
Baking in the wrong pan creates the incorrect texture and was likely why my initial cheesecake was quite pale. I have since converted the recipe to fit inside a standard 1-pound loaf pan, which you can get at any US store. (You know, it's the one that you've been baking your banana bread in all these months.)
The exact loaf pan that I use in this video is the Chicago Metallic Brand.
Now my tops are not as browned as the original cheesecake, and I have a feeling that it may have to do with convection. I do not use convection setting to bake this cheesecake, as is typical of all cakes I make. I find that convection is a bit too strong and will brown the tops and sides of my cakes before the internal portion of the cake has baked properly.
That doesn't mean that I won't try at some point though... 😏 because we could all use more cheesecake in our lives right now.
How to eat and store Mr. CHEESECAKEs
So the Chef that wrote this recipe wants you to try this cheesecake at three temperatures as you can experience different tastes and textures with each.
- Room temperature
- Cold from the fridge
- Frozen from the freezer
Apparently, notes of lemon and cream will be different at various temperatures. I wonder which one will be your favorite?
The wonderful thing about this cheesecake is that it can be frozen! Freeze the entire or portion of this cheesecake by wrapping tightly in plastic wrap, then place in a freezer ziplock bag. Will keep for a few months for a reminder of what you made in the previous months.
If you'd like to check out the original recipe from Mr. Cheesecake, it's right here.
My video tutorial is right here:
Mr. Cheesecake Recipe
- Prep: 30
- Bake: 1 hr 5 mins
- Total: 1h 35m + cooling
- Yield: one loafpan
Ingredients
| Ingredient | Volume | Grams | Ounces | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| cream cheese, full fat and softened | 20.25 TB | 300g | 10.5 oz | |
| granulated sugar | 3/4 cup | 150g | 5.25 oz | |
| sour cream, full fat | 1 cup + 3 TB | 270g | 9.53 oz | |
| Greek yogurt, full fat | 1/3 cup | 75g | 2.64 oz | |
| heavy cream | 1/2 cup + 2 TB | 150g | 5.25 oz | |
| white chocolate | 7 1/2 TB | 75g | 2.64 oz | |
| egg yolks | from 3 large eggs | about 45g | ||
| lemon juice | 1 TB | 14g | 0.5 oz | |
| vanilla bean or vanilla extract | 1/3 of a pod or 1.5 tsp extract | - | - | |
| cornstarch | 2 TB + 2 tsp | 30g | 1 oz |
- Bring all of the dairy and eggs out to room temperature: the cream cheese, sour cream, Greek yogurt, heavy cream and egg yolks.
- Prepare a pan by lining with parchment
- Preheat the oven to 350F (about 180C)
- Prepare a hot water bath and a bowl that sits atop. Combine the cream cheese and sugar and mix until very smooth and creamy. Set aside.
- In another small bowl, combine the sour cream and Greek yogurt.
- Whisk the egg yolks and pour into the sour cream/Greek yogurt mixture 1/3 at a time and whisking after every addition. Then add the lemon juice and cornstarch.
- In a small pot add your cream and vanilla extract/vanilla pod. Bring to just under a simmer and turn off the heat. Add the white chocolate and mix until melted.
- Add the cream cheese and sugar mixture to the warmed cream mixture, and then add the sour cream and Greek yogurt bowl.
- Use a fine mesh strainer to remove any lumps and pour into your parchment lined pan.
- Place the filled pan into larger pan that you can fill with water. Fill with water a little over an inch high (3 cms).
- Bake at 350 for 35 mins, then lower heat to 300F (about 150C) for another 25-30 mins. The center will still be quite jiggly, but it will have darkened slightly to a darker yellow. If you have an instant read thermometer, the center should register at 150F.
- Remove the bread pan from the water bath and let sit out at room temperature to cool. Once it has cooled down to the point where you can handle it with your bare hands, cool in the fridge for at least 4 hours to set.
- To serve, lift out of the bread pan using the parchment paper and slice into less than an inch slices.
- This cheesecake freezes beautifully, so if you can't finish it all, wrap it nice and tight in saran wrap, then a freezer safe bag for a treat later on.
Hi Everyone, I'm Adriana
... the nerdy baker behind the videos and recipes here. I coded this site to not only share my recipes with you but also to build some helpful tools for bakers.
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