Lavender Japanese Cheesecake Cupcakes

In the midst of another wave, what better activity to do than quarantine baking? It's nice to hunker down, filter out all of life's distractions and just concentrate on baking sometimes anyway. Besides, you get an extra heat source in the house. 

I've been meaning to make a batch of Japanese cheesecakes for a while. My mom's a big fan of them and I'd been promising to bake some for her for months. Only got around to making them now. Here's the recipe: 

Lavender Japanese Cheesecake Cupcakes (makes 16 standard cupcakes): 

• 5 large egg yolks 
  
• 1 block (250 g) original cream cheese (you can probably get away with low fat too) 
• 15 g unsalted butter 
• 1 tsp lavender (optional, feel free to add other flavours) 
• 1 tsp vanilla paste (...optional if you must) 
• 20 g all-purpose flour 
• 40 g corn starch 
• 45 g milk (non-dairy preferable!...will elaborate below) 
• 5 large egg whites 
• 1 tsp glucose 
• 85 g granulated sugar 

1.  Stir together egg yolks and cream cheese until you get a smooth mixture. 
2. Add unsalted butter and stir until smooth as well. 
3. Crush the lavender in a pinch of sugar and add to the cheese mixture along with the vanilla. 
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, cornstarch, and flour. Add a spoonful of the cheese mixture when the milk gets too thick. 
5. Add the milk and flour mixture to the cheese mixture and stir together. Set aside. 
6. Preheat the oven. 325 F/160 C 
7. Beat egg whites with the glucose until it becomes foamy. 
8. Add the granulated sugar, 1/3 at a time, and continue to beat between each addition. 
9. Beat the egg whites to a stiff peak once all the sugar has been added. 
10. Fold a few spoons of the egg whites into the cheese mixture. Then add the lightened cheese mixture back into the egg whites. 
11. Fold until just thoroughly mixed. 
12. Fill a large piping bag with the batter and pipe into lined cupcake/muffin tins 
13. Bake at 325 F/160 C, middle rack, no convection, 20-25 min, in a water bath: place the muffin tin on a half sheet pan with about 1 cm of water at the bottom. The water doesn't need to come up the sides of the muffin tin much. As long as there's enough water creating steam in the oven, it'll do the trick. 

 Let the cupcakes cool on a cooling rack out of the tins. 

A few words on the ingredients: 

Glucose: This is usually used for candy-making or making fondant or frosting in cakes. Optional, but it helps stabilize the meringue so the cakes don't collapse as easily when they come out of the oven. 

Lavender: We have a lavender farm close by, and had some leftover from the summer, so I decided to add some to the cakes. If you're not a fan of floral flavours, feel free to substitute with citrus zest or crushed tea leaves. 

Milk: Most non-dairy milk has some sort of start, such as carrageenan, that thickens it. While there's only a small amount and they usually don't hold much structure when heated, I find it still helps stabilize the batter. You can use 1 or 2% milk as well. Skim milk might be a bit watery...

Lemme know if you have any questions about the recipe. Happy bakes, happy holidays, stay safe!