This Ube Cheesecake is made with Ube Ice Cream and Ube Halaya and cooked in a rice cooker. Yes it is!! Also it's so light and airy and it feels like you are eating a mousse.
This Ube Cheesecake is like a cross between a regular cheesecake and the soufflé like Japanese Cheesecake.
Regular cheesecake can be kinda heavy and super cheesy. Japanese Cheesecake sometimes verges on eating sweet fluffy eggs. I wanted to make something in the middle. A cheesecake recipe with no crust, was light and airy and also easy to cook.
To make this you will need a rice cooker. It's specifically been developed to be cooked in a rice cooker so please don't ask if you can bake it. You possibly can. I dunno, you can try it and let me know.
There is an overnight resting time in the refrigerator which is very, very, very important. Don't skip this step as it helps set the Ube Cheesecake and makes it easier to cut. Also it helps develop more flavor during that time. DO. NOT. SKIP>
Ingredients
Cream Cheese - Yay, you will only need one 8oz block of room temperature cream cheese that has been cut into small cubes. I mean in this economy who has the means to use 2 blocks of cheese. Madness.
Ube Ice Cream - Okay okay okay. It's the magic ingredient. 1 cup of melted Ube ice cream. Only use the best though. I recommend Magnolia Ube Ice Cream or make your own.
Ube Halaya - Basically any recipe that has Ube in it must have Halaya. You will need ½ cup of ready made or from scratch Ube Halaya.
Flour - We will need a light binder. Use ¼ cup of all purpose flour to do that.
Cornstarch - Then we also need to lighten the binder by adding 2 tablespoons of cornstarch.
Eggs - The eggs are used specifically for a bit of lift and to add that mouse like texture. You will need 2 eggs at room temperature.
Sugar - We will need to add a bit more sweet, but not so much. You will need ½ cup of super fine sugar that we will whip into the eggs.
Ube Extract - As we add more ingredients to the Ube Ice Cream and Ube Halaya the color starts to get dilated to a more grey color. We are just going to use ¼ teaspoon to amp the color back up. Don't go crazy and add so much that it's neon purple. It's not good for you.
How To Make Ube Cheesecake
So this recipe is equipment heavy. You will need a blender, handheld or stand mixer and of course a rice cooker.
Place the cubes of cream cheese in a blender along with the 1 cup of melted ube ice cream and ½ cup of ube halaya.
Blend until nice and smooth.
Add the ¼ cup of flour and 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and blend again until smooth. Pour into a large bowl and scrape out any remaining mixture off the sides of the blender.
Now we are going to whip up the eggs. Crack 2 eggs into the bowl of your stand mixer.
Whip up the eggs until they get nice and frothy and quadruple in size. The color should also be a light yellow. It will take about 2-3 minutes of whipping.
Once the eggs are whipped slowly add in the ½ cup of sugar while the mixer is still on.
Whip the sugar into the eggs on high for 2 minutes until the eggs get a slightly syrupy texture.
Now slowly fold in the whipped eggs into the ube mixture ⅓ at a time.
Keep folding in the eggs into the ube batter slowly. As you can see, the batter starts to look a bit gray.
To fix that we will add in ¼ teaspoon of Ube Extract. Not more than that!
Fold in the Ube Extract until there are no streaks and the Ube Cheesecake batter is nice and smooth.
Prepare your rice cooker by spraying the bowl with baking spray.
How to Cook Ube Cheesecake in a Rice Cooker
Pour the Ube Cheesecake batter into the rice cooker bowl. Place it in the rice cooker and select the white rice setting and start cooking.
If you have a newer rice cooker pick the cake selection from the menu. Cook the Ube Cheesecake for 40 minutes. You may need to press cook twice for older rice cooker models like I have.
To do that take out the hot rice bowl with the cheesecake in it and unplug the rice cooker for 5 minutes so that it cools down a bit.
Then plug it back in and put the rice bowl back in with the half cooked cheesecake and press cook again to cook further.
After 40 minutes it will look a bit puffy, but set in the middle. Leave to cool at room temperature and then cover and leave to chill overnight in the refrigerator.
Do not skip the overnight chill. This will help set the Ube Cheesecake and develop more flavor. Trust me it's much better cold!
After the chill you can see that it become tighter and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
How to Serve Your Ube Cheesecake
Now that it has chilled we need to get it out of the bowl intact. To do that boil a full kettle of water and pour it into a bowl bigger than the rice cooker bowl.
Dip the bottom of the Ube Cheesecake for 1 minute to loosen it up. Then invert your serving plate on top of the bowl and flip over.
It won't release right away. Just leave it upside down for a minute or two until you hear it plop down. Don't attempt to knock it down or scrape it out with a spoon or knife. It's a soft cheesecake so it will get ruined if you do that.
Once you have it on your platter lift up the bowl and dust the top with powdered sugar.
To slice make sure you dip a clean knife into super hot water and wipe off the excess water. Each time you cut make sure the knife is hot and clean.
Enjoy with some coffee, salabat or even some ube milk.
Where To Store Leftover Ube Cheesecake?
My trick to saving chilled cake in the fridge is to put the cake on the underside of the container lid and inverting the bowl on top. Like a makeshift cake dome!
It will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.
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Equipment
- Stand Mixer or Handheld Whisk
- Rice Cooker
Ingredients
- 8 oz Cream Cheese Block At room temperature cut into cubes.
- 1 Cup Ube Ice Cream Melted
- ½ Cup Ube Halaya
- ¼ Cup Flour
- 2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
- 2 Eggs At room temperature
- ½ Cup Super fine sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Powdered Sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Place the cubes of cream cheese in a blender along with the 1 cup of melted ube ice cream and ½ cup of ube halaya. Blend until nice and smooth.
- Add the ¼ cup of flour and 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and blend again until smooth. Pour into a large bowl and scrape out any remaining mixture off the sides of the blender.
- Now we are going to whip up the eggs. Crack 2 eggs into the bowl of your stand mixer. Whip up the eggs until they get nice and frothy and quadruple in size. The color should also be a light yellow. It will take about 2-3 minutes of whipping.
- Once the eggs are whipped slowly add in the ½ cup of sugar while the mixer is still on. Whip the sugar into the eggs on high for 2 minutes until the eggs get a slightly syrupy texture.
- Now slowly fold in the whipped eggs into the ube mixture ⅓ at a time.
- Keep folding in the eggs into the ube batter slowly. As you can see, the batter starts to look a bit gray. To fix that we will add in ¼ teaspoon of Ube Extract. Not more than that!
- Fold in the Ube Extract until there are no streaks and the Ube Cheesecake batter is nice and smooth.
- Prepare your rice cooker by spraying the bowl with baking spray. Pour the Ube Cheesecake batter into the rice cooker bowl. Place it in the rice cooker and select the white rice setting and start cooking.
- If you have a newer rice cooker pick the cake selection from the menu. Cook the Ube Cheesecake for 40 minutes. You may need to press cook twice for older rice cooker models like I have. To do that take out the hot rice bowl with the cheesecake in it and unplug the rice cooker for 5 minutes so that it cools down a bit. Then plug it back in and put the rice bowl back in with the half cooked cheesecake and press cook again to cook further.
- After 40 minutes it will look a bit puffy, but set in the middle. Leave to cool at room temperature and then cover and leave to chill overnight in the refrigerator.
- Do not skip the overnight chill. This will help set the Ube Cheesecake and develop more flavor. Trust me it's much better cold! After the chill you can see that it become tighter and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
- Now that it has chilled we need to get it out of the bowl intact. To do that boil a full kettle of water and pour it into a bowl bigger than the rice cooker bowl.Dip the bottom of the Ube Cheesecake for 1 minute to loosen it up. Then invert your serving plate on top of the bowl and flip over.It won't release right away. Just leave it upside down for a minute or two until you hear it plop down. Don't attempt to knock it down or scrape it out with a spoon or knife. It's a soft cheesecake so it will get ruined if you do that.
- Once you have it on your platter lift up the bowl and dust the top with powdered sugar.
- To slice make sure you dip a clean knife into super hot water and wipe off the excess water. Each time you cut make sure the knife is hot and clean.Serve right away.
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