and the living is easy

strawberry souffle

 
dried madeleine biscuit, sponge cake, souffle cheesecake, fresh cream, strawberries

The various components are delicious alone but they just didn’t meld together as well as I imagined. I’ll probably add a little more cream cheese/sour cream/yogurt to the soufflé cheesecake the next time I make this; the subtle cheese flavor and aroma was completely overwhelmed by the other elements of the cake.

Souffle Cheesecake 
(adapted from The Little Teochew)

Melt 250g cream cheese, 50g butter and 100g full cream milk; heating it in 10-second spurts with a microwave on the highest setting is my method of choice mainly because there are less dishes involved. Add 60g cake flour, 20g corn flour, 108g egg yolks into the mixture and mix well.

Whisk 192g egg whites with 140g castor sugar until the soft peaks stage.

Fold the egg whites into the cheese mixture as delicately as possible to minimise foam destruction. Line a 8 inch pan (non-springform) with parchment paper; the collar should be 2 inches taller than the pan. Bake the cheesecake in a water bath for approximately 70 minutes at 160 degree celcius.

Dried Madeline Biscuit Base
(adapted from Blumenthal’s In Search of Perfection)

Melt 56g unsalted butter with 15g full cream milk. Whisk 33g honey and 70g egg until still completely you can form stiff peaks with the batter. It will take approximately 5 minutes on a stand mixer at the highest speed. Slowly fold in 67g plain flour, 33g sifted icing sugar, 5.6g baking powder to the whisked egg in 3 additions. Fold in the butter mixture until just combined. Pour the batter into a lined 9 inch by 13 inch baking pan. Bake for 10 minutes in a 200 degree celcius oven. Cut it into your desired shape. After that, drop the temperature to 100 degree celcius and continue baking for approximately 90 minutes until deep golden brown and crisp.

Other Components:
Freshly whipped cream: I used approximately 600g of fresh cream for this recipe. It is sweetened with 10% sugar i.e. 60g of castor sugar.

Sponge Cake: Use a genoise recipe of your choice.

White chocolate: I used white chocolate to create a waterproof layer to ensure that the madeline biscuit remains crisp. Just so you know, there were comments about how it is a little difficult to slice/fork through the white chocolate covered biscuit so you might consider omitting this part.

To assemble:
Ensure that the genoise, souffle cheesecake and madeline biscuit layers are completed cooled. Slice both the genoise layer and the souffle cheesecake layer horizontally to create 2 equal halves. Trim the madeline biscuit layer into an 8 inch circle with a serrated knife. If necessary, use a microplane grater to file away the jagged edges. 

Spread the melted white chocolate over the madeline biscuit layer. Put one layer of genoise over the white chocolate. If necessary, slather the genoise with sugar syrup. Spread a thin layer of cream over the white chocolate and cover the cream with sliced strawberries. Repeat with the souffle cheesecake layers and the remaining genoise layer. Do not be stingy with the amount of strawberries you use in between the layers; I was too frugal with mine and regretted the decision.