Everything should be room temperature!

Ingredients:

• 5 eggs
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/2 cup sugar, divided
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 cup AP flour
• 2 Tbsp corn starch

8 inch cake pan (you’ll want it to be decently deep)

Line the bottom and sides of your pan with parchment paper. If you’re like me though..and you ran out, just butter like hell and hope for the best. If you’re using a spring form pan, wrap the outside with several sheets of foil to ensure its sealed completely.

Fill a large baking pan halfway with water and place in the lowest rack of your oven. Preheat to 315F

Separate all of your eggs and place the whites in a mixing bowl and the yolks in a small bowl. Beat your egg whites on low for 30 seconds until foamy. Add cream of tartar and increase speed to medium and beat until whites start to thicken. Add 1/4 cup of sugar gradually. Beat until whites reach soft peaks~about 3 minutes

In a separate bowl, mix milk and cream cheese on low speed unitl creamy and smooth. Add butter, remaining sugar, and lemon juice, mix. Sift in your flour and corn starch and mix for another minute. Add your egg yolks and mix. Push your batter through a sieve to make sure you don’t have any clumps.

Add 1/3 of your eggs whites and gently fold into the batter. Continue adding and gently folding in the rest of your mix.

Pour into your pan and spread batter evenly on top. Very gently tap your pan on the counter to get out any big air bubbles.

Place your pan in the water bath and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Check with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, its done, but you may need to cook an additional 10 minutes or so. Once its done, turn off your oven and leave the door cracked. Leave your cake in the cooling oven for another hour.

Gently remove your cake from its prison and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Optional: take about a tablespoon of honey and put in microwave for a few seconds to thin it out and brush it over the top of your cheesecake. Simple addition and so so yummy!