JAPANESE CHEESE CAKE

Ensure all the ingredients are at room temperature. It is better to keep the butter and eggs which you will be using outside the refrigerator for an hour before you begin the mixing process.
Grease the bottom and sides of a 9″ spring-form pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper. Let the paper exceed the edge of the mold by 2 cm. Ensure that the paper doesn’t come off while baking. Butter the parchment paper evenly and dust with powdered sugar, ensuring it is uniformly covered, without skipping any portion. Wrap the base of the cake pan with aluminum foil, preferably with extra-large heavy duty foil to prevent seepage. Store in the refrigerator until you’re done with the batter.
Preheat oven to 160C degree.
Separate 6 eggs into yolks and whites.
In a large bowl, cream together the cream cheese and sugar on a medium-high speed until smooth.
Add the butter and mix until the mixture is fluffy.
Now add the egg yolk and heavy cream and continue creaming.
Add in the lemon juice and rum and mix until the batter is very smooth.
Sift the flour few times. Add the flour all at once and mix well.
In clean grease free mixing bowl, whip up the meringue .Start whipping up the egg whites using the high setting on your hand mixer. Whisk for a while without adding sugar. When the egg whites become foamy, add sugar and whip it up further. When the foam of the meringue starts to become finer, add remaining sugar and continue whipping until the meringue has doubled in volume and is thick and glossy.
Fold in a third of the meringue to the cheese mix at a time. Fold the mix gently without deflating.
Add a third at a time of the cheese and meringue mix into the rest of meringue mix and fold in gently, without deflating the batter.
Gently pour the batter into the cake mold. It will be like a mound if you pour the batter in slowly.
Tap the tin gently to even out the surface of the batter and remove any air bubbles that rise to the surface.
In the preheated oven, at 160°C , place the cake pan in a large roasting pan in the middle rack, pour 1″ of boiling water in the roasting pan.
Bake for 60 minutes or until light golden brown. Then reduce the temperature to 150C and bake for another 30 to 45 minutes. Check for the water level in the roasting pan and fill if required. If you find the top getting too dark, place a sheet of aluminum foil on the top.
When a wooden skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean without wet batter, turn off the oven. Let the cake sit in the oven with the door slightly open for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven. Take out the cake pan from the roasting pan, and let it cool on a wire rack.
If you want a glossy finish, simmer a mixture of apricot jam and water, then spread it on the surface of the cake.
Or you can sprinkle icing sugar just before slicing.
Let the cake cool completely, remove from the pan and refrigerate for a few hours before serving.
Cut the cake with a warm sharp knife.
Dip the knife in boiling water and wipe clean after each cut.