Tofu and cheese may sound like a weird pairing but don’t be put off. Together, they actually produce a light, low fat yet delicious cheesecake. I usually make the rare (no-bake) version which was well received by many who tried it. This time I attempted the baked version out of curiosity. And also because I wanted to try another recipe from this book again ever since my previous success in baking these muffins from it.

To be honest, I never had luck in baked cheesecakes. Mine always crack and sinks into an ugly mass. I refused to admit that the problem lies in me. So I’d always conveniently blamed it on the recipes (or was it the ego?). Anyway, I thought I should try on a different method this time so instead of whisking all the ingredients in the stand mixer, I blend everything in the food processor. I find that this is much easier and convenient, and the result was pretty nice. It has a smooth texture though sadly, it did crack after all and it sinks a little but I thought it actually looked beautiful this way, this time.

Taste wise, I think it was rather bland. But I do love that this cake is sweeten with only maple syrup and no other sugar added, I shouldn’t complain. I do taste a teeny bit of the tofu but that’s because I already knew there was tofu in there. Otherwise, I don’t think anyone will find out. Overall, I liked it.

I also played around by adding a topping of maple toffee sauce with toasted walnuts to make the cake a little more interesting and appealing. In my opinion, the topping really complement the cake very well. I strongly urge you not to skip the topping unless you have special reasons not to have tastier cake, otherwise you should make that divine sauce to go with this smooth, light and naturally-sweetened tofu cheesecake.

Baked Tofu Maple Cheesecake (Slightly adapted from 我♥和風洋菓子 | 福田淳子 wa sweet recipe | Junko Fukuda) Makes a 7-inch round cake

For the base

100g digestive biscuits

12g pure maple syrup

35g unsalted butter, melted

To make the base, butter the bottom and sides of a 7-inch round removable base cake pan. Crushed the biscuits till fine crumbs with the food processor. Alternatively, place them in a ziplog bag and crush with a rolling pin or glass bottle. Add the maple syrup and melted butter. Mix well. Press firmly onto the base of the greased pan. Freeze.

Note:

1. I upped the quantity of the base as I found it a little too thin.
   

For the cake

250g cream cheese

80g pure maple syrup

30g unsalted butter

200g silken tofu (see important notes below)

2 medium eggs

50ml milk

2 teaspoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons cornflour

• Preheat the oven to 170C.
• Place the cream cheese in the food processor and blend until soft and creamy. Add the maple syrup and butter. Continue to blend until well combined.
• Add the tofu and process until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time. Mixing well after each addition.
• Finally, add the milk, lemon juice and cornflour and blend until smooth.
• Remove the pan from the freezer. Pour the batter into the pan.
• Bake for 45 minutes.
• Once done, remove cake from oven and let it cool on a wire rack. Then place a kitchen towel over the top and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Notes:

1. You need to drain the water out of the tofu. To do this, wrap the tofu with layers of kitchen papers or a clean kitchen towel and place in between 2 plates. The idea is to apply pressure to the tofu with the weight of the plate on top. Let sit for about 30 minutes. The tofu should weight at approximately 150g after drained.

2. Ensure that the cream cheese, butter, eggs and milk are at room temperature.

3. I used the food processor to make this cake. You can use stand mixer, handheld mixer or whisk with your strong hands by all means.

Maple Toffee Sauce with Walnuts ( Sauce recipe adapted from here)

56g unsalted butter

1/4 cup light-brown sugar

1 tablespoon pure maple syrup

1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup of walnuts, lightly toasted

• Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
• Add brown sugar and maple syrup. Stir until combine.
• Bring to a boil and immediately bring to a simmer.
• Cook until sugar melted and sauce thicken. About 5 minutes.
• Add salt, vanilla and heavy cream. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until thick. About 5 minutes.
• Toss in the walnuts. Drizzle over the cheesecake and serve.

Note:

I cut the recipe to half. The amount would be just right for the size of cake.