Delicious White Chocolate Cheesecake

If you are a cake lover in Bangkok, you'd probably have heard of Coffee Beans By Dao. It's a famous cake shop/restaurant opened by an ex-air hostess and is very famous amongst cake fans.

The first time I tried it was last year, and I had their fresh coconut cake, black forest, and macadamia cake. The coconut cake was pretty good, but I thought their other cakes were quite overated, and were quite expensive for their appearance. I did not really understand why people were so crazy over this cake shop, until I read more reviews and realized that their signature cake is 'White Chocolate Cheesecake'. I decided to give Coffee Bean By Dao's another go, and tried their White Chocolate Cheesecake and their Cookies and Cream Cheesecake. Their cookies and cream cheesecake was decent, but what really impressed me was their White chocolate Cheesecake. It was smooth and creamy, yet was not too rich nor sweet. I was able to finish the whole slice by myself, which is quite unusual for cheesecake.

Cookies and Cream Cheeesecake from Coffee Beans By Dao

The original White Chocolate Cheesecake from Coffee Beans By Dao
The cake that inspired me!

Coffee Beans By Dao's White Chocolate Cheesecake really inspired me to replicate one similar to it, and hence I embarked on my journey in looking for a good White Chocolate Cheesecake recipe. Several recipes that I found required lots of cream cheese, which I thought would be too rich. I was thrilled when I found P'Tri's recipe on Pantip, a Thai website which I visited quite frequently. The recipe involves beating egg whites and incorporating it into the batter which I thought might be the key to the lighter texture of the cheesecake. I decided to try it out and I was right, the cake was extremely delicious! It might not taste the same as Coffee Bean By Dao's version, but I dare to say "Watch out Coffee Bean By Dao! You have a competitor!" :p

White Chocolate Cheesecake Adapted From P'Tri

Crust:
1 pack Oreo, crushed (cream removed)
55g butter, melted

Cheesecake:
200g white chocolate, melted (I use Lindt)
170g cream cheese, at room temperature
1 egg yolk
50g egg white (about 1.5 egg white)
120g yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbs sugar
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 tsp caster sugar
few drops of vanilla extract
white chocolate for decorating

Mix the crushed Oreo crumbs and the melted butter together. Press into a 6 inch springform tin. Bake in a preheated oven at 170 degrees Celsius for 10 min. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Beat the cream cheese at low speed until smooth, add in egg yolk, yogurt, and vanilla extract and fold until well mixed. Add in the melted white chocolate (I used the microwave for 1 min at 50% power).

In a separate clean bowl, beat egg whites until foamy, add in 1 tbs of sugar and beat until soft peaks form. Fold the egg white mixture into the cream cheese mixture, a bit at a time to avoid deflating the egg whites. Pour the mixture in to the springform tin on top of the Oreo crust. Bake in a preheated oven at 160 degrees on a waterbath for 45 min or until set. Do not over bake the cheesecake, it should still be wobbly in the center, as residual heat will continue to cook it. Leave the cake to cool in the oven to prevent it from cracking/sinking from the sudden change in temperature. I left it on the oven overnight, then place in the fridge to chill.

I decided to cut out a piece for quality control :p

After the cake has cool down, remove it from the tin. Beat the whipping cream with sugar until stiff (I added a bit of gelatin to stabilize it a bit). Spread the whipped cream over the cheesecake and decorate with grated white chocolate. I used a vegetable peeler to grate the white chocolate. Chill in the fridge for atleast 1 hour. Enjoy!

This is probably one of my favorite cake so far!