What is the best fruit to pair up with matcha? Apart from strawberries, the next fruit that comes instantly to my mind is YUZU. Used mostly for their zest and peel, yuzu is a citrus fruit that is mainly cultivated in the East Asia, such as Japan and Korea. Here, in Singapore, it is quite difficult to find fresh yuzu in the local supermarket. Normally, fresh yuzu can only be bought from specific suppliers or distributors who import Japanese produce. Since the fruits will be air-flown, yuzu is more on the pricier side as compared to most other fruits out there. I once saw that just ONE piece of yuzu fruit costs $12; I don’t know about you but it’s definitely a luxury for a home baker like myself.
Therefore, for baking purpose, yuzu paste and yuzu marmalade is more easily accessible to the locals. For this cheesecake, I am using honey yuzu tea marmalade from Korea, which still contains yuzu peels in it. Adding yuzu marmalade lends a refreshing taste to cheesecake. Imagine a sweet, tangy, citrusy flavour that pops in each mouthful of creamy cheesecake. Isn’t that heavenly? Accompanied by a thin Japanese matcha flavoured layer, matcha does not only make the cake look more colourful and elegant, but also transport me from Basque county in Spain to the oriental. Yes, you get it right, I believe we can travel across time and space through food and flavour.
Let’s make the Matcha & Yuzu Burnt Cheesecake now:
Ingredients: (make one 6″ round cake)
(A) Burnt cheesecake
- Cream cheese 1 block (~225g)
- Sugar 25g
- Honey Yuzu (citron) tea 65g
- Egg 2 no.
- Whipping cream 200g
- Corn flour 8g
- Matcha powder 6g
- Hot water 2-3 Tbsp
(B) Whipped cream topping
- Whipping cream 150g
- Sugar 15g
- Lemon juice 10g
- green grapes, lime zest, yuzu peel as garnish
Method:
- To make burnt cheesecake: Preheat oven at 220 degree Celsius. Prepare a 6-inch round cake tin and line it with parchment paper. Make sure parchment comes at least 2″ above top of pan on all sides, because the parchment needs to be pleated and creased to fit in pan,
- In a small bowl, put in matcha powder and hot water. Mix to combine into a smooth paste. You may adjust the amount of hot water as long as it forms a smooth paste, and not too runny. Set aside for later use.
- In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth and creamy. Then, add honey yuzu tea and mix until combined.
- Add eggs in two to three additions to the cheese mixture. Mix well after each addition.
- Pour in whipping cream and mix until well combined.
- Add corn flour and mix well.
- Take about 1/3 of the cheesecake batter and transfer it to another bowl. Add in the matcha paste prepared earlier and mix well.
- Transfer all the matcha cheesecake batter to the cake tin first and gently flatten out the batter. Then, pour the remaining original cheesecake batter over the matcha flavoured batter. Tap on the countertop to flatten the batter and get rid of any trapped large air bubbles.
- Bake at 220C for 25 minutes. Make sure that the centre of cheesecake is still jiggly when you take the cake out from oven.
- Let it cool down in cake pan completely. (No need to remove the cake out from cake pan at this stage) Chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 – 4 hours or overnight.
- To make whipped cream topping: Whip together the whipping cream, sugar and lemon juice, until medium-stiff peak. Keep chilled until needed.
- To assemble: Remove chilled burnt cheesecake from cake tin. Use a spatula, coat the top of cake with all whipped cream. The resulting cream layer should be around 1.5 – 2 cm thick.
- Run the spatula around the side and top of cake to create a smooth layer.
- Garnish with some green grapes, lime zest and yuzu peel, as desired. Serve chilled.
