Japanese Cheesecake

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 200°F/100°C.
2. In a small pot over medium heat, whisk the milk, cream cheese, and butter until smooth. Remove from heat and cool.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks until smooth, then slowly drizzle in the cream mixture, stirring until evenly combined.
4. Sift in the yellow cake mix, whisking to make sure there are no lumps.
5. In another large bowl, beat the egg whites with a hand mixer until you see soft peaks when lifting the mixer up from the egg whites.
6. Gradually add the sugar while continuing to beat until you see hard peaks when lifting the mixer up.
7. Take about ¼ of the egg whites and fold them into the egg yolk mixture, then repeat with the remaining egg whites until the batter is evenly combined.

8. Place a 4-inch parchment paper strip around the edge of a 9x3-inch cake pan that is already lined with parchment at the bottom. If you are using a spring form pan, make sure to wrap the bottom and sides completely in foil twice, to prevent any leakage.

9. Pour the batter into the parchment-lined pan and shake to release any large air bubbles.

10. Place the filled pan into a jelly roll pan or a large serving dish lined with 2 paper towels at the bottom. The paper towels ensure that the heat is distributed evenly along the bottom of the pan.

11. Fill the jelly roll pan about 1-inch with hot water.

12. Bake for 1 hour, until the cake has risen to almost double its height.

13. Remove from oven, and carefully, invert the cake onto your dominant hand and peel off the paper. The cake will be hot so be extremely careful, . You can also invert the cake onto a plate, but this will cause the cake to deflate more. Sprinkle the top of the cake with powdered sugar and serve.