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Japanese Cotton Soft Cheesecake

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I first fell in love with this Japanese cotton soft cheesecake when I was about 8.  It’s exactly what it sounds like with an amazing fluffy texture that tastes like whipped cheesecake but in cake form, if that makes any sense.  How I first discovered it was by accident.  I would always accompany my mother to the market {which is also part of how I fell in love with food}.  Our errands rarely ever included the supermarket that you and I know and frequent.  Our Korean cuisine necessitated traveling across town for our biweekly trip to the Asian shop where the pungent smell from the fresh mongers stand placed at the back would hit your nose as soon as you walked in.  Never once did it occur to me to view it as a place where exotic or wondrous foods were held.  For me, it was just another Sunday with mama, picking up our groceries.  As a reward for being good and helping, I could always pick something out and on one particular day, I wandered further than my typical aisle where the bags of banana puffs and chocolate pocky waited for me to rip into and discovered a humbly wrapped slice of puffy blonde cake that when I touched, felt softer than any plush animal I’d ever held.  Intrigued, I chose it to enjoy in the back seat on the ride home.  I still remember the crackle of the packaging and that very first moment I sank my teeth into the pillowy soft cake.  Gently sweet with subtle flavors of classic cheese, it was light as air and unlike anything I’d ever had before and needless to say from that moment on, it was magic and I was hooked.

My love of cheesecake in general has been pretty well documented on this blog. (Berry Cheesecake, Mango Cheesecake, Red Velvet Cheesecake, Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries, Key Lime Cheesecake Milkshake), so it’s not too much of a stretch that I would love the fluffier Asian version of it as well. Light, airy, soft and as fluffy as clouds. These are all the proper adjectives that come to mind when describing this beauty.  Not until I was in my 20’s did I even attempt at making this cake for myself and years later, I wonder what took me so long.  Perhaps I was originally adverse to breaking down the magic of this cake but the magic is still there.  And when you bake this cake, you’ll see what I’m talking about.

 

 

4.3 from 7 reviews

Japanese Cheesecake
 
Prep time

Cook time

Total time

 

Author:
Serves: 4-6 Servings

Ingredients
  • 8 oz cream cheese
  • 4 tb butter
  • ⅓ c cream
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 6 eggs, separated
  • ¼ ts cream of tartar
  • 10 tb caster sugar
  • 5 tb + 2 ts cake flour
  • 3 tb cornstarch
  • Optional: cocoa or matcha powder or powdered sugar to dust the finished cake with.

Instructions
  1. In your first bowl, gently heat your cream cheese, butter, and cream. Whisk constantly and set aside to cool.
  2. When it’s cool, fold in yolks, cake flour, and cornstarch.
  3. In your second bowl, beat your egg whites. When they get frothy, add in your cream of tartar and gradually sprinkle in your sugar. You want to achieve soft peaks, meaning the eggs have become tight and shiny and when the whisk is removed, the edges stand up but softly curl downwards.
  4. Fold your second bowl into your first bowl, using soft strokes but incorporating thoroughly.
  5. In a springform pan lined with parchment, wrapped twice in foil, and set inside of another pan, pour in the batter. Prepare a water bath (pour in hot water half way up the sides of the pan). Bake at 350 for 70-80 minutes.

Notes
I highly recommend using full fat cream cheese and dairy here.

If you enjoy my Japanese Cheesecake, you’ll love my Korean Cream Cake as well.  It’s a more dressed up version of this cake with chiffon cake layers, whipped cream frosting, and fresh fruit.

Dreaming of clouds & cake,

Love,

Your Squishy Monster ^.~

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53 thoughts on “Japanese Cotton Soft Cheesecake

  • Choc Chip Uru says:

    This cake is exquisite, I have always wanted to try it

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    Hooray!

  • Lester. says:

    Your cheese cake Angie looks so delicate and delicious! Very lite and fluffy!! A must try! Thanks for sharing your recipe. Have a lovely week end!!!

    Love.

    Les.

  • brian says:

    so japan cheesecake is a form of cheesecake + angel-food cake mixed together..a”win win”. hehe

  • yummychunklet says:

    Looks great!

  • Tandy says:

    Time to find some matcha powder!

  • Veronica says:

    You made it and it looks incredible!!!! Just lovely.

  • Needful Things says:

    I have never even heard of japanese cheesecake. How interesting! Unfortunately we can’t get matcha powder here but I’d love to try this with cocoa.

  • Paul Anthony Prince says:

    Cotton-soft indeed; that cake looks like an absolute dream. A heavenly combination of angel food- and cheese- cake. I’d like to place an order for my birthday as well.

    Thank you Angie for sharing this felicitous combination of cakes.

    Have a blessed weekend!

    Love & Prayers,

    Paul

  • Daniela says:

    My husband and I we are both huge cheesecake fans and this is a wonderful new variation of this delight.
    Thank you for the great video instructions!

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    Thanks so much! That’s great to hear… I hope you guys enjoy it!

  • Gemma @andgeesaid says:

    Oh my goodness! this looks so light and airy and delicious! thank you for sharing

  • DWei says:

    Mmmm…. So good… Though any cheesecake would be good right now. I haven’t had any in a while.

  • shuhan says:

    I LOVE japanese cheesecake. It’s my favourite type of cheesecake out of all the rest. In fact I don’t even like other cheesecakes, I get nauseous after I’m halfway through, But japanese cheesecake is so wonderfully light and fluffy but moist because of the ceramy cheese too. this is great! x

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    Hope you had a great weekend, Gemma!

  • Asmita says:

    This is such a light and beautiful cake. I would love to try it out!

  • Alex says:

    Oh my god. It looks like a dream come to live in the form of cake.

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    Lol–a perfect sentiment

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    I hope you do, Asmita

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    I’m starting to wonder if I don’t love this better myself

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    That would be torture for me :). Hope you had a great birthday!

  • Amy Tong says:

    I love Japanese Cheesecakes too.

  • Amelia says:

    Hi Angela, your cheese cake is so cottony soft. I sure love the lemon scent. great to go with a cup of good coffee.

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    You’re always welcome to a tea party with me, Unni

  • Suzie says:

    Oh this sounds heavenly. My daughter in law is coming in June, we may have to try this one. She loves her sweets too

  • Suzie says:

    *In July

  • Marta @ What Should I eat for breakfast today says:

    I am a big fan of cheesecake, a BIG ONE, so Japanese version is a must.

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    Couldn’t agree more, Marta =)

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    I bet you’re the best mother in law EVER!

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    ohhh yes! I had TWO lattes today! (would’ve been better with cheesecake)!

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    Thank you for pointing this out, Colette, silly me =) It’s 350.

  • Jewel says:

    I noticed that you only used 3 yolks. Do you use all 6 yolks?

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    Hi, Jewel. Often times, I halve the recipe for myself since I can’t eat it all but the recipe provided is always for a full quantity

  • Raven says:

    a question, is the usual cream? because I see it very liquid.

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    Heavy cream =)

  • Pearl says:

    I do not have a second pan to put my cake pan in…can I bake it just as is without the second pan or won’t it work?

  • Pearl says:

    It keeps falling!!! I’ve made it twice!!! Y is it falling!! Please respond!!!

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    Let’s troubleshoot =) Are you mixing the batter just to combine? If you overwork the soft peaked whites, you risk them deflating. It’s crucial that this doesn’t happen as we’re completely depending on them to be our leavening agent. Lumps are your friend when it comes to any cake batter. When you’re dealing with a meringue based cake, it’s even more important to be as gentle as possible. As soon as the streaks disappear, you want to stop. Are you lining the inside of your pan? I recommend either lining with parchment or leaving it bare as it’s a good idea for the cake to have something to hold onto/grab. You never want to grease/butter the pan. Next, are all of your ingredients at room temperature? In my opinion, this is the simplest and important step to successful baking. Though there’s great debate revolving around how long to keep ingredients out, I personally {and firmly} believe that everything must be set out at least overnight to be of a proper texture to work with. Additionally, have you ever calibrated your oven? Depending on use/altitude/etc, your oven may need to be reset/calibrated…OR, it could just be as easy as testing the internal temperature. I highly recommend a digital thermometer. If I’m baking for anything but for my own personal use, I always use one just for insurance. Finally, you can keep the cake in the oven with the door cracked as it’s cooling, after its cooked so that it can sloooowly reach room temperature.

  • Cristy says:

    When halving the recipe do I cut all the ingredients in half? And does the baking time stay the same? Also what size Springform pan do u recommend?
    Thanks

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    Hello, Cristy! I’ve halved this successfully and it works well. In my oven, it took 30-40 minutes but it can depend on whether or not it’s a humid/dry day {since it’s meringue-based}, the oven is properly calibrated, and so forth. I would recommend allowing it to bake for at least 20 minutes before checking on it and going from there. As for the pan size, I use a 6″ pan. I hope this helps!

  • Cristy says:

    I’ve never halved a cake recipe before, do i cut all the ingredient amounts in half or just the eggs? Thanks for the reply!

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    All of it =)

  • Regina says:

    I notice you add only 3 yolks. How many egg whites should I use?

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    Hi, Regina. The full recipe {I halved mine} uses 6 eggs, separated so you would use all 6 egg whites for step #3 in the written recipe.

  • Colette says:

    The sounds crazy good!

    What’s the oven temp?

  • Cristy says:

    Made this tonight! Very yum and spongy. But mine didn’t ride like yours in the photo.I wonder if it’s because I opened the oven site to take a peek while it was still cooking? ..:-/ . Either way it was a hit with my little family ♡

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    Hi, Cristy. If the cake wasn’t almost set, it can definitely fall. It can also be due to other factors like humidity. Did it rain? Were the egg whites beaten to firm {not soft} peaks? Was the dry over mixed to produce a dense cake? and etc.

  • Carissa says:

    Hello! Can this be adapted to be made into cupcakes? Thank you!!

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    Yes, that would be excellent!!

  • Wf says:

    Can I substitute heavy cream with butter and milk? Or just use milk?

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    Hi, Wf! I haven’t tested this recipe with anything other than heavy cream and whipping cream so I can’t vouch for a substitution. I imagine you may have luck with whole milk though =)

  • Wf says:

    My finished cake seems to have like 2 layers, a soft and fluffy one and a dense layer, do u happen to know why? Or is it not fully cooked?

  • Suzie says:

    Thank you for sharing this recipe! I’m really excited to try it but was wondering what caster sugar was. So looking forward to making this for my family this week!

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    Hi, Suzie! It’s a finer sugar that blends in much easier to ensure a lighter crumb =)

  • Suzie says:

    What size pan did you use?

  • Suzie says:

    Thanks so much, I just watched the YouTube video where you explained that.

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