Lemon flavour Japanese cheesecake

Timeline:
- Preparation time: 30 minutes
- Cooking time: 50-60 minutes
- Ready time: at least 4 hours

Ingredients:
1 lemon
4 eggs
1 tbsp maize flour
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup cream cheese
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/8 tsp tartar cream
2/3 cup whipping cream

1. Preheat the oven at 375°F.
2. Separate the egg white from the egg yolk and make a meringue with the egg white. To make the meringue, put the egg white in a mixer and beat it to maximum speed for 5-7 minutes. Add in the sugar in 3 separate steps and add the tartar cream when it reaches soft peak. Stop when it reaches hard peak.
3. While preparing the meringue, sift the maize flour with the all purpose flour, and grate the the lemon's skin and squeeze its juice.
4. Melt the cream cheese and the butter in a bain-marie. Use a spoon to stir and mix the two products together. Before removing the mix away from heat, add the lemon zest and juice, and mix well.
5. Beat the cream cheese mix. Beat until it becomes fluffy and add the egg yolk first and the the dry ingredients, beat at medium speed until everything looks creamy.
6. Mix the meringue with the batter. Add it in several steps, gently folding it in the batter. Make sure to gently fold in the same direction, otherwise the cake might not rise.
7. Pour the batter in a 10 inches cake pan, and bake it in the preheated oven for 50-60 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean when poking the cake. Be sure to lower the temperature to 350°F as soon as the cake enters the oven. 
8. Remove the cake from the pan and let it sit at room temperature for 2 hours and leave it in the fridge for at least 2 hours, if possible, preferably overnight.

Good luck and enjoy! 

Lemon Curd Squares (Improvisation) – fillings only

These lemon curd squares are a result of looking in a cooking book, searching for something not too rich and easy to modify. These squares are a sign of appreciation for the person who borrowed me that book! (And don't expect this to happen again! Ahha! I'm kidding... Well, half.) However, despite all efforts, only the filling was successful. The crust was good but not awesome, which is why it is left out from this recipe. To make it easier, you may use pre-made pie crust.

After preparing the squares, the song “Lemon Tree” by Fool’s Garden came to my mind. It translates the sourness of loneliness, the desire to escape a bland life. The “Lemon Tree” is the picture of nothingness. Yet, the fruit itself represents so much. Its peel makes zest, bringing tastes to life. It’s juice, so sour that it makes our smiles twist. Although one may be alone, I subjectively believe that the lemon makes you feel that you are not so alone, because of its flashy yellow colour, its strange oval shape, its fragrant smell and its torturing yet pleasant taste. Is it wrong to think of this fruit this way?

Alright, less talk! 

Ingredients:

160g sugar

3 tbsp flour

Pinch of salt

2 tsp lemon zest

1 cup lemon juice

5 tbsp heavy cream

5 eggs

Mix everything together, pour the filling on top of the cooked pie crust and bake it for 20 minutes at 325°F. The cooked filling should gently jiggle when pulling out from the oven.

Good luck and enjoy!

Zesty Lemon Cake

This lemon cake came from the idea of reaching a simple yet condensed recipe that many will like. It is difficult to choose a ground of satisfying Eastern Asian flavour with North American taste, yet difficult does not mean impossible. The magic of lemons is its rich flavour – sour, sweet, bitter – and its fragrant smell. Hence, this is how this recipe is inspired.

A note on flavours

It is difficult to describe taste in English. In the above paragraph, the taste of lemon appears so simple and bland in words. There are the basic tastes like salty, sweet, bitter, sour or hot, but tastes are not solely limited to these basic experiences, it is not only the tongue that experiences foods, the whole palate, the teeth, the gum and the throat are part of the process. Sadly, in most time, when speaking English, it could become difficult to describe a taste without using words that indirectly describes it. If one takes the instance of Chinese, the taste of lemon is much varied:

酸 Sour

甜Sweet

苦Bitter

澀 Dry and astringent

甘 Sweet as in the aftertaste

清 Clean

The possibility in providing a direct and concrete word would allow the tasting experience a different dimension. With more precise words, the speaker may convey a virtual experience of tasting and it creates less surprises to the people who would eventually do the tasting. This, however, is a personal remark.

Without waiting longer, you may now get to enjoy yourself the recipe of the cake.

Ingredients:

(cake)

300g all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

A pinch of salt

65g granulated sugar

65g butter

3 eggs

1 tsp lemon zest

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

1 cup milk

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp plain yogurt

(syrup)

3 tsp honey

3 tsp lemon juice

(glaze)

1/3 cup powdered sugar

2 tsp lemon juice

½ tsp vanilla extract

Hazelnuts (or any kind of nuts)

1. Mix the all-purpose flour with baking powder and salt. Sift for finer taste.

2. Preheat the oven at 350°F.

3. Take a one or two lemons and grate to obtain the zest. Squeeze out the juice and let it aside.

4. Beat sugar and butter until it becomes fluffy in a mixer. Then add in the eggs, one at a time. When it is well blended, add in the zest, vanilla extract, milk and lemon juice.

5. Add in the dried combination from (1) in the blend. Using a spatula, mix everything. When the dried ingredients are well incorporated, mix in the yogurt.

6. In a 12” cake pan, pour the batter. Tap it to evenly spread. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes.

7. While baking, you can prepare the syrup and the glaze.

8. When taking out the baked cake, tap the bottom to let the hot air escape and prevent the cake from shrinking.

9. While the cake is still warm, brush some syrup. When the cake is ready to handle, yet not completely cold, you may spread the glaze. Before the icing freezes, top it with hazelnuts or any nuts of your choice. Let it sit for at least 4 hours to let the syrup to settle down.

Good luck and enjoy!