Japanese-style souffle cheesecake. This cotton soft cheesecake is full of creamy cheese flavour with a light melt-in-your mouth texture. The softest cheesecake you'll ever have!
Background
I am a cheesecake lover. To be honest when it comes to cheese I love everything and this Japanese souffle cheesecake is no exception. The first time I tried a Japanese-style cheesecake was when the Uncle Tetsu's chain store opened in Sydney. There was ALWAYS a massive line to get a bit of this famous cheesecake, and lucky enough I got my hands on some. It was life changing. The texture is so unique, soft and fluffy yet rich and cheesy enough to be called a cheesecake.
I've been hooked ever since!
On the other hand, making this cheesecake was a different story. Me and my Japanese souffle cheesecake recipe have had a rough past. This cake looks deceivingly simple. No base, just a nice fluffy sponge, what can be so hard?
This cake is prone to sinking, dense bottoms and cracked tops. Because the texture is so unique it makes it harder to nail. On top of that If you want that perfect looking cheesecake it's even harder. I have tried SO many recipes, and in the end I've found my very own. I've included all the tips and tricks I found useful to recreate this cake. I promise you you'll have the fluffy cheesecake of your dreams!
Tips
Here are a couple of tips that will help you reach cheesecake success!
Cake Batter
It is important to make sure your cake batter is smooth and lump free before folding in your egg whites. This means making sure you:
- Melt the cream cheese and butter sufficiently so there are no lumps
- Sift the flour into the batter to remove floury clumps
If you find there are still clumps in your batter after melting and sifting you can pass the batter through a fine meshed sieve. This will smoothen out your batter.
Egg Whites
This is one of the most important steps when making Japanese cheesecake as it gives the cake its signature fluffy texture.
When whipping the egg whites make sure that it comes to stiff peaks. Having a stable meringue will prevent your cake from cracking while giving it a perfect rise. Once you reach stiff peaks you want to beat the egg whites on medium-low for 2 minutes or so to stabilise the meringue. This ensures there are no large air bubbles in your batter, preventing the possibility of cracking.
The next step is folding the meringue into the batter. We want to be careful not to deflate the air bubbles created, but also make sure that it is fully incorporated. To do achieve this I split the folding into two steps
- Add one quarter of the meringue to the cake batter and whisk the egg whites in well. It is ok to deflate air at this point as we are just trying to lighten the batter and prepare it for folding
- Then transfer the lightened cake batter to the egg whites, before carefully folding the batter through the meringue until completely incorporated
Most recipes will tell you to add the meringue to the lightened cake batter, however I find that way it is easy to miss parts of the heavy cake batter when folding. Missed cake batter = dense uneven cake. By doing the reverse you can prevent this!
Baking
A bain-marie or hot water bath is essential for baking the cake. The hot water bath stabilises the temperature in the oven and prevents it from being overly hot and dry. Hot and dry oven means cracked cheesecake.
Pour boiling water 1-2cm up the side of the pan. Too much water can cause excess moisture in the oven. This changes the temperature of the oven and can cause you to under-bake the cake.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between regular cheesecake and Japanese cheesecake?
There are a few major differences between the two cheesecakes. Japanese cheesecakes are a light cheesecake made by folding egg whites through a cream cheese based cake batter. This makes the resulting cake very soft and fluffy while having a creamy cheesecake flavour. Unlike Japanese cheesecakes regular cheesecakes have a base made from crushed buttery cookies, which is then topped by a much richer, dense cream cheese batter. This batter is heavily based off cream cheese and held together by eggs or gelatine. The resulting cake is a much heavier, denser and cheesier cake.
Why is my cheesecake not fluffy?
The fluffiness comes from the folding of whipped egg whites through the batter. However, if the egg whites are not folded properly it can result in a dense cake.
If you under-mix the egg whites into the batter you will have a cake with a dense bottom and light top. This is as the heavier cake batter will sink to the bottom of the cake while baking, while the egg whites that hadn't been fully folded through rise to the top.
Over-mixing the batter causes the whipped egg whites to deflate. The signature soft and fluffy texture comes from the air whipped into the egg whites. Without the extra air the cake will not be able to rise resulting in a flat and dense cake.
Why did my Japanese cheesecake crack?
There are a few reasons as to why your cheesecake cracked, however it largely comes down to temperature control. As the texture of the cheesecake is so delicate it is important to watch the temperature of the cake as it bakes. A lot of recipes will start baking the cheesecake at a higher temperature like 160C or 180C. However, there is more risk of the cheesecake cracking when starting at these temperatures as a rapid rise will begin before the batter has had time to stabilise.
A slow and low bake allows the cheesecake to settle and bake before increasing the heat at the end to give it browning and extra rise.
The temperature increases results in a rapid rise, but if the temperature of the oven increases too quickly it can cause your cheesecake to crack. I like to keep an eye on my cheesecake in it's final stretch to make sure it is rising slowly and evenly. If you notice any small cracks open your oven door to allow some steam to escape. This will prevent it the top from rupturing.
Let's Get Baking!
I feel like I've written an essay on cheesecakes at this point... Anything to make sure you all have the necessary tips for a perfect cheesecake!
If there is anything that doesn't make sense or you need extra help feel free to leave me a comment down below. I'm more than happy to answer your questions! Don't forget to leave a comment and rating down below if you make this. Tag me on instagram @catherine.justdessertsau and hashtag #cattycakes so I can see and share your creations! Thank you so much for staying up until this point, and until next time... happy caking!
Print📖 Recipe
Japanese Souffle Cheesecake
Japanese-style souffle cheesecake. This cotton soft cheesecake is full of creamy cheese flavour with a light melt-in-your mouth texture. The softest cheesecake you'll ever have!
Ingredients
- 180g Cream cheese, room temperature (6.3oz)
- 20g Unsalted butter, room temperature (1 ½ tbs)
- 50g Whole milk (3 tbs 1 tsp)
- 3 Egg yolks
- 20g Sugar (I) (1 ½ tbs)
- 40g Cake flour (⅓ cup)
- 3 Egg whites
- 40g Sugar (II) (3 tbs)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 100C / 212F
- Line the bottom of a 6-inch cake tin
- Bring a small saucepan of water to a simmer
- In a medium heatproof bowl add the cream cheese, butter and milk
- Mix the ingredients with a whisk until slightly melted, then whisk until smooth
- Remove from the hot water bath and add egg yolks and sugar (I)
- Sieve in the cake flour and mix until smooth
- In the bowl of a stand mixer add the egg whites and sugar (II), whisk on medium-high until stiff peaks
- Reduce the speed to medium low and beat for 2 minutes
- Add one quarter of the meringue to the cream cheese batter and whisk until smooth
- Transfer the cream cheese batter to the remaining meringue and fold carefully with a spatula until well combined
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin, then place the tin in a slightly larger baking tray
- Fill the baking tray with boiling water, reaching 1-2cm up the side of the cake tin
- Place the tray in the oven and bake for 60 minutes
- Increase the heat to 150C / 300F and bake for a further 15-20 minutes, until the top is golden brown
- Remove from oven and cool
- Enjoy warm or place in the fridge for 3-4 hours to enjoy chilled
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Hi, Did you use a springform or regular cake pan?
I used a regular cake pan, springform pans may cause the waterbath to leak into the cake. Hope that helps!
Why does it always come out undercooked? I even baked it for 1hr 45mins for 110C and its still super soft and wet. 😭 Im using a convection oven. Please help
Hi Aura, I would recommend reducing the amount of water in your waterbath, as when there is too much it can cause the cake to underbake. Hope that helps!
What is cake flour please? We don’t have this in the UK 🙁 Thank you! It’s looks amazing
Hi Kaz, Cake flour is also known as low protein flour and used to make cakes lighter. You should be able to find it in the flour aisle of most supermarkets!
I love this so much!
★★★★★
Thank you!
Hi Catherine
Just wondered if I doubled the ingredients could I bake the cake in an 8 inch or 9 inch pan and for how long ?
You can double the ingredients for a 9-inch cake! I'm not too sure how long it will take but I'd try baking it after the initial low bake at the increased temp of 150C/F for a further 45 mins or so.
Would the souffle cheesecake hold up to being sliced and layered (similar to a japanese strawberry shortcake)?
I had a souffle cheesecake + sliced fruits and whipped cream layered in between and it was phenomenal (dare say better than the traditional japanese strawberry shortcake) and would like to try it out!
Yes it definitely would! Make sure you chill the cake completely before slicing into it 😊
Hi! I only have an 8-inch round pan, so how do I alter the recipe? Also, I keep breaking the yolks when separating the eggs 😭 how do I reduce that?
I would increase the recipe by 1.5x. Try cracking the eggs in a bowl and scooping out the egg yolks with your hands 😊