Preheat oven 150 C.

Double boil the cream cheese and milk over a bain marie. Stir continuously till all are blended well. Remove from fire and stir in the yolks, one at a time. Stir in the butter, sugar, plain & corn flour and lemon peel.

Whip up the egg whites, adding the sugar in 3 separate additions. Add in the lemon juice/ vinegar when adding the sugar for the first time. The meringue should be between soft and stiff peak. Meringue should be firm, dense and glossy.

This is the most crucial step for successful rising of cheesecake as this recipe utilises only the meringue as a leavening agent. Soft peak will cause separation of cheese and egg white. Stiff peak will result in over rising of cake and have a cracked top.

Rest the meringue for 2minutes. Check the meringue by using a spatula and use whisk to mix well in the lowest speed if meringue appears lumpy. Fold in 1/3 of the meringue into the cake batter. It is perfectly okay to sacrifice some volume at this point.

Fold in the remaining meringue in 2 separate additions, using a whisk. Finally check that all flour is well mixed and that there are no lumps of meringue. Fold in any other flour using spatula ensuring batter is folded in from all the sides.

Pour batter into a lined 8” cake pan with a removable bottom. Remove bubbles on the surface by dropping the pan twice onto the worktop from a height of 10 cm.

Wrap the bottom of pan with 2 layers of aluminium foil & place it in a larger pan with hot water. Bake for 50 -65 min (depending on your oven). Do not use fan mode as that dries the cake.

After the cake is baked, leave it in the oven with the door ajar for about 1h. This helps to reduce the shrinkage.