Double Cheesecake: Rare and baked cheesecake and a memoir of my Japan trip

 Hello, it's been a long time since my last post, well I just came back from Japan last week.

I had a very good time in Japan with my sister and niece, (only 3 girls, hehe). We went to many beautiful places and had so many delicious meals too. Because we went there by ourself, there're no schedule at all. We decided where we want to go the night before and with a small child we started each day late. 

 But when we didn't have schedule it meant we can go anywhere that we want too. This time, the weather was warmer than last time (I went there in February, and the weather was a bit cold). I was regret that we didn't have a chance to see Sakura as the rain washed down all of them a week before.

 Anyway the weather was great for outdoor activity, like hiking and cycling. So, we spent most of our time in beautiful natural environment. Going to cycling at Arashiyama (嵐山) is one of my favourite activity. We rent the bicycle near train station, cycled around nearby park, then went to shop for souvenir and had delicious soba for lunch.

 From town we went to Kurama (鞍馬), a hot spring resort that close to Kyoto, about 1 hours drive. Spending time in the warm (almost hot, haha, but after a while it became so right) bath. I really wanted to be in the hot water bath until dark but my niece couldn't bare the heat so we have to go back to our Japanese style room. We had a dinner in our room (a load of food, hehe), and I have to confess that I fall in love with Ume chu (Japanese Plum liquor), again. 
At night we spent our time in our room, listened to the sound of outside was deep dark, the sky was so beautiful. 

 Next day, we went to Kurama Tera (鞍馬寺), walked through the beautiful scenery to the top of the mountain that finally we could walk only half way, as the it's too hard for small child to walk that far.  

 So we decided to use a cable car, and it's the right decision, as we stepped out of the station we started to see very beautiful place. 

 Beautiful natural scenery could take our breath, I stopped so many times along the way to take a photo, (anyway it will be too much to put all of them here ^^). 

 I think that I will go to Japan again as there are a lot of place that I want to see and so many delicious things that wait for me to try them ^^.
This recipe is something that I got from this time. As our group are sweet-tooth, we always started our day with a cake or pastry. There was one day that we ate our breakfast in cafe near the hotel, and Double Cheesecake was on the menu. I never ate it before and after eating I wanted to make it. The cake has 2 parts, the lower is baked cheesecake, and the top is rare one. It will be easier to use removable bottom cake pan. 

Double Cheesecake: Rare and baked cheesecake 

Make 18cm cake

Base
120g............................ Digestive biscuits, crushed
50g ............................. Butter, melted

Baked cheesecake batter
200g ............................ Cream cheese
80g .............................. Granulated sugar
150g ............................. Whipping cream
2 .................................. Eggs
1/2tsp .......................... Vanilla bean paste
1tsp .............................. Lemon juice
3tbsp ............................ Cake flour
...................................... Pinch of salt

Rare cheesecake batter
100g ............................. Cream cheese
100g ............................. Whipping cream
30g ............................... Granulated sugar
1tbsp ............................ Lemon juice
3g ................................. Gelatine powder
2tbsp ............................ Water

Preheat the oven to 170C
Have ready 18cm bottom removable round pan.

 Mix the crushed biscuits with melted butter.

 Pour into the pan and press until level.
Refrigerate until ready to use.

 Beat the cream cheese with the sugar until smooth (place the bowl of cream cheese over a bowl of hot water will make it soften and become smooth easier).
Pour the whipping cream into the bowl, beat to combine.

 Pour the eggs into the bowl, beat to combine.

 Pour the lemon juice into the bowl, stir to combine.

 Sift the flour into the bowl, stir to combine.

 The mixture will be smooth.
Pour into the pan and bake for 40 minutes.

 Remove from the oven and run a knife around the cake to prevent the cake from cracking.
Let the cake cool, it will fallen.

 Put the water into a microwavable bowl, pour the gelatine powder into the bowl, let it soften.
Beat the cream cheese with the sugar until smooth (place the bowl of cream cheese over a bowl of hot water will make it soften and become smooth easier).
Warm the gelatine mixture in a microwave using low power until melt (20-30 seconds).
Pour the melted gelatine into the bowl, beat to combine.

 Whip the whipping cream until soft peak formed.
Fold the whipped whipping cream into the cream cheese mixture.

 Fold until smooth.

Pour the rare cheesecake mixture into the pan, decorate it the way you want^^.
Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Double Cheesecake: Rare and baked cheesecake 

and a memoir of my Japan trip