I love viral videos. I often recall the immortal words of my then-14 year old daughter, who said, "if YouTube were a country, I'd live there." Dancing kittens, laughing babies, office pranks, hilarious TV segments I can't stay up late enough to watch....I try to get a healthy dose of online entertainment via YouTube every day. I'm particularly intrigued by viral food and/or recipe videos, given that although I've been blogging for a few years, I've never felt personally compelled to post a food video to YouTube (and I’m not sure what I’d think if millions of people were to watch me).
There are some amazing food things that have gone viral; check the links at the bottom of this post for a few of my favourites. This month's darling is a Japanese video presenting the Three Ingredient Cheesecake, also referred to as Japanese Cotton Cake, which has been viewed over three and a half million times already.
I've adapted the original recipe slightly making it super-simple - it truly takes just moments to prepare for baking, especially if you use white chocolate chips which melt very quickly in the microwave (no need for a double boiler). I found the flavour little on the plain side so I also recommend serving it with with a little fruit coulis garnish.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 340F.
Grease the bottom and sides of one 6 inch springform pan or two 3 or 4 inch pans. If not using springform pans, cut a collar of parchment paper to fit inside the sides of your baking pan and grease it lightly. Having well-greased sides is important for this recipe so the cheesecake can easily rise and fall; this prevents a cracked surface.
Put chocolate chips in a large heatproof bowl and melt in microwave on low power, stirring occasionally, until smooth. Add cream cheese to warm, melted chocolate and stir till softened.
Whip egg whites until stiff. As the video says, you should be able to turn the bowl of whipped egg whites upside down and have them stay in the bowl.
Lightly beat egg yolks and add to cream cheese and chocolate mixture, stirring to blend.
Add egg whites to cream cheese mixture in three parts, folding gently after each addition.
Pour batter into prepared pan(s).
Place pans in a baking tray and add enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of your cheesecake dishes.
Bake 15 minutes at 340F then reduce heat to 320F and bake 15 minutes more. Turn oven off and leave cheesecake(s) in for 15 minutes more. Remove from oven and let cool on wire rack before removing sides of pan.
Dust with icing sugar and garnish with fruit or melted jam and serve.
Serves 2 – 4
A few other viral food videos for your amusement:
How to Scramble Eggs Inside The Shell
RELATED: No Bake Cherry Cheesecake Parfaits
Cheesecake seems to be one of those desserts that almost everybody loves and this parfait-style treat reminds me of a popular dish from the 1970s. I tend to make anything cheesecakey with mascarpone because of its soft, satiny texture; it also happens to have much less sodium than cream cheese. Combining whipped mascarpone with barely-cooked sweet cherries and crushed cookies makes this a super-fast, super-tasty no-bake dessert that’s also super-easy to prepare. If you want to make it even simpler, substitute canned cherry pie filling for the fresh cherries.
Ingredients
* Substitute with cream cheese if you prefer
Directions
Put prepared cherries, water and almond extract in a small pot over medium-low heat.
Blend together 3 tbsp white sugar with cornstarch and sprinkle over cherries. Stir to blend well.
Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often, until cherries are slightly softened and sauce is glossy and thick.
Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl; refrigerate to cool.
While cherry mixture is cooling, in a medium bowl, blend together mascarpone and ¼ cup sugar; beat until smooth.
To assemble parfaits, place about 2 tablespoons the cherry mixture in the bottom of four serving dishes (small mason jars, cocktail glasses or even wine glasses work well).
Put 2 tablespoons of the mascarpone mixture on top, then add a tablespoon of the crushed cookies.
Repeat all three layers then top with one cherry half.
Refrigerate for up to four hours until ready to serve.
Makes 6 - 8 individual desserts depending upon the size of your dishes
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