Earl Grey Japanese Cheesecake Topped with a Tangy Lemon Cream

Instructions

Earl Grey Japanese Cheesecake

1. The night before, place the milk and 2 grams tea leaves in a small sauce pot on medium heat. Once the milk starts to steam and a few bubbles can be seen, take off heat and place a plate over it to steep. After it cools off, put in the fridge overnight. 
2. The next day, pour the milk through a strainer. Keep 90 ml of milk for our current use. Discard the excess along with the tea leaves that can't be strained. 
3. Cut up the cream cheese into cubes, place it inside a heat safe bowl, microwave it for 15 to 20 seconds to bring to room temperature
4. Heat up the milk and cream cheese in a heat safe bowl over a boiling pot of water, stir with a spatula until well incorporated. *a
5. Add the butter.
6. Put the cream cheese mixture aside and let it cool down before adding the egg yolks to avoid cooking it.
7. Once the mixture has cooled off, add the egg yolks and vanilla extract,  incorporate well with the spatula.
8. Sift the dry ingredients of cake flour, cornstarch, and remaining 2 grams of tea into the melted cream cheese mixture. Do this in two parts. 
9. Gently stir it with the spatula. Do not stir too vigorously as this will toughen up the cake. Stop as soon as it becomes homogeneous.
10. Prepare a very clean non-plastic bowl free of oil or residue for making the meringue. *b
11. Put the whites into the clean bowl, leave the egg whites on the counter to bring back down to room temperature (around 20 minutes).
12. Using a hand blender or Kitchenaid, whip the egg whites on low speed until foamy, then add the cream of tartar and increase the speed to medium. 
13. Once the whisk starts leaving tracks in the egg whites, which have become opaque, add one third of the granulated sugar at a time. Keep beating on med-high until stiff peaks. 
14. Pre-heat oven to 300F
15. Fold a third of the meringue into the cake batter. Then fold in the rest of the meringue. Keep folding until the mixture is homogeneous and no visible clumps of meringue can be seen.
16. Line the rectangular cake pan with parchment paper. *c
17. Pour the batter into the small loaf pan lined with parchment paper. Rap it once on the counter to smooth out the top and get rid of excess air pockets. 
18. Place the cake pan in a water bath. For the water bath: place the cake pan inside a larger pan filled with 2 cm of hot water. *d
19. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes at 300F. It's ready when a skewer pulls out clean when inserted and the cake bounces back when you gently press into it with your fingers. The top should also be golden brown. 
20. Turn off the oven. Leave the oven door ajar for 10-15 minutes before taking the cake out of the oven. *e
21. Gently lift the cake out of the pan. Peel off paper and let it cool off on a cooling rack. Be careful, it is very fragile at this point. 
22. Once cooled, place in the fridge in an air-tight container overnight to set. This will allow the flavours and texture to develop. The cake is best eaten within 3-4 days. 

Fresh Lemon Whipped Cream

1. Work on lemon cream immediately before serving. *f
2. Place whisk (of handheld mixer) and glass mixing bowl in the fridge to chill. Do not use metal bowls since the acid in the lemon will react with metal. 
3. Zest (whole) and juice (1 tbsp) the organic lemon. Set aside. *g 
4. Whip the cream inside the chilled mixing bowl on low speed. Once it has thickened and increased in volume, add the icing sugar. Increase speed to medium.
5. Once it has reached soft peaks, add the lemon juice and zest and whip until stiff peaks. Look for the cream to develop ridges along with a matte surface. DO NOT OVER WHIP *h
6. Pipe immediately.