Earl Grey Soufflé Cheesecake

A light, Japanese-style soufflé cheesecake flavoured with Earl Grey tea and sweetened with monk fruit, baked in a water bath.

Ingredients

Heat the oven to 180°C. Wrap the outside of the base of a 15 cm cake tin in a double layer of foil and stand it in a deep tray.
Cut two 15 cm circles of baking paper and lay them in the base of the tin, which makes the cake easier to remove. Thinly oil the inside of the tin and line the sides with a strip of baking paper that stands about 2.5 cm above the rim.
Wrap the cream cheese in cling film and microwave on low for 4–5 minutes, turning it over halfway, until it's soft enough to push a finger into easily.
Empty the leaves from one tea bag into a small heatproof container, add 2 tsp of boiling water, cover with cling film and leave to steep.
Put the soy milk, the 20 ml of water and the other 3 tea bags in a small pan. Bring to the boil, boil for about 1 minute, then turn off the heat, cover and leave for about 3 minutes. Squeeze the tea bags with a spatula and measure out 70 ml of the tea.
Boil a kettle of water.

Whisk the cream cheese in a bowl until smooth. Add the egg yolks, the 70 ml of tea and the lemon juice, in that order, mixing well after each.
Strain the mixture through a fine sieve, then stir in the steeped tea leaves.
In another bowl, whisk the egg whites with the sweetener to a stiff meringue.
Add the meringue to the cheese mixture in three parts, whisking each in. Finish by folding with a rubber spatula, scooping from the bottom, until the batter is even.
Pour into the tin, put the tray in the oven and pour hot water into the tray to a depth of 1 cm. Bake for 15–20 minutes, until browned on top. Then lower the oven to 150°C and bake for another 40–45 minutes, topping up the hot water if it runs low.
As soon as it comes out of the oven, gently press the sides of the cake away from the paper with a palette knife and peel off the paper above the rim. Leave to cool, then remove from the tin.

The original is a machine translation from a Japanese cookbook. The tin size comes from the 15 cm paper circles, and the split of tea bags (one for the leaves, three for the tea) is inferred from the method.