Happy 2017! This is my first blog post of the year. Hopefully this matcha cheesecake doesn’t disappoint. In fact when it comes to the combination of matcha, chocolate and cheescake, it should be pretty safe.

It was an extremely busy holiday season for me. This year the amount of orders for my Christmas cookie boxes was huge, thanks to my lovely clients. I literally lived in my kitchen for the past two months making, baking and packing cookies. And I wouldn’t be able to fulfil that crazy amount of orders if not for my rock star team.

Being said that, we did celebrate a lot. And of course we were mostly responsible for desserts. We’d done some mini cheesecakes, a black forest cake, some Rudolph cake pops for my kids school party, a lemon strawberry cheesecake…

And also this matcha cheesecake with an Oreo crust. I also tried to go with graham cracker crust which was totally amazing. But it’s the combination of matcha and chocolate that wins my heart a little more.

The topping was simply a layer of whipped cream. Compared with sour cream topping, whipped cream works better with cheesecake as it lightens the sweetness of the cake and also yields a fluffier texture of the whole dessert.

Ingredients (8-inch cake):
Crust
1 cup Oreo cookie crumb
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
Cheesecake
2 packages of Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
2 cups sour cream, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons matcha powder
3 large eggs, separated, room temperature
Whipped Cream Topping
1 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
1/2 cup fresh raspberries
1/4 cup chocolate shaves

Directions:
Preheat oven at 350F. Grease an 8-inch spring form pan.
Make the crust by mixing all the crust ingredients together with a fork.
Press the mixture onto the bottom of the spring form pan. Bake crust for 8 to 10 minutes. Set aside to cool. Turn down oven temperature to 300F.
In the bowl of a standing mixer with a paddle attachment, mix cream cheese, sour cream, sugar and matcha powder.
Add egg yolks, one at a time. Blend for another 2 minutes until well combined.
In a clean bowl, whip the egg whites until stiff. Gently fold in the cream cheese mixture.
Pour the filling in the prepare pan. Tap the pan on counter a few times to release all the air in the batter.
Position rack in the centre of oven and place cheesecake on it. Place a shallow pan full of water on the lower rack in the oven.
Bake for an hour, or until the edge of the cheesecake is puffed but the centre is still wobbly and wet looking.
Turn off the oven with the door slightly opened, let the cheesecake sit in the oven to cool completely, at least an hour.
Remove from the oven. Chill for overnight.
Remove cake from springform pan and place on the serving plate.
To prepare the topping, whip the whipping cream and powdered sugar until it holds firm peaks. Gently spread a thick layer of whipped cream on top of the cake.
Garnish with the raspberries and chocolate shaves before serving.