Yum Asia's Rice Cooker Cheesecake

Curiosity got the better of me when I saw a recipe for 'fudge cheesecake' in the old manual of my Yum Asia Sakura rice cooker.

I've had my Yum Asia rice cooker (specifically the Sakura model) for about five years now, and have made many things in it. Rice (obviously, and it makes good rice too), congee, oatmeal porridge, stew, soup, yoghurt, even a giant pancake.

I'd lost the original manual long ago after a move. But having recently moved again, I found it, and discovered a few recipes at the back of it. Including a recipe for fudge cheesecake.

I was super sceptical, being a big cheesecake fan and having made many different types of cheesecake myself. Would it actually be good cheesecake? I had to find out and make it myself.

It did indeed make a cheesecake. A good one? Not really, but it was pleasant enough to eat. A bit thin, and obviously not stuck to the additional ready-made base, but a decent rough-and-ready dessert.

The recipe written below is pretty much Yum Asia's, only with a few tweaks from me. I removed the instruction to sift the flour in (it wasn't necessary in this case), and added the fudge and required weight to the ingredients list (in the original recipe, it's only mentioned as 'a good sprinkling' in the directions but not listed in the ingredients, despite it being the main ingredient). I also recommend lining the bottom of the cooking bowl with something, because the cheesecake does, alas, stick. Other than that, I don't claim credit for it at all.

You can also watch me make this on YouTube:

Ready? Let's go.

Ingredients:

200g full fat cream cheese, softened at room temperature
50g caster sugar
30g additional caster sugar
3 eggs, separated
30g plain flour
30ml double cream
4 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
20g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
50g mini fudge chunks
Extra butter (for greasing)
A large ready-made sweet tart case

Method:

1. With your extra butter, generously grease the inner cooking bowl of your rice cooker. For extra insurance, stick a circle of non-stick baking paper at the bottom, too.

2. Stir the cream cheese and 50g of sugar together until it's thinned out. Stir in the egg yolks, and then beat in the flour until smooth. Stir in the cream, lemon juice, vanilla extract and melted butter. Then stir in the fudge chunks and set aside.

3. In a separate large bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form stiff white peaks. Whisk in the 30g of sugar until glossy.

4. Stir a large spoonful of your meringue mixture into the cream cheese mixture to loosen it up. Now gently fold the rest of the meringue into it until just combined.

5. Pour into the inner cooking bowl, place in the rice cooker, close the lid, and select 'cake' mode. Cook for 60 minutes before removing the bowl and leaving to cool completely.

6. Turn the cooled cheesecake out into your ready-made tart case, slice and serve.

Enjoy, and have fun.